Effect of synthesis route on the multiferroic properties of single phase BiFeO < inf > 3 < /inf >

Abstract

The effect of preparation routes on the properties of the single phase BiFeO3 is investigated. Sol-gel (SG) synthesis could yield a pure material at relatively lower temperatures while the solid state (SS) method yielded powder with a small amount of the secondary Bi2Fe4O9 phase. BFO prepared by SG revealed huge value of dielectric constant than same obtained by the SS. Maxwell-Wagner type dielectric dispersion is observed in SG method. An anomaly at 50K is seen in M-T curves for SS processed samples. A slight increase in HC and Mr is observed for SG samples over SS. The improved properties of SG prepared BFO makes it promising for applications. © 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.