Influence of the La³⁺, Eu³⁺, and Er³⁺ Doping on Structural, Optical, and Electrical Properties of BiFeO₃ Nanoparticles Synthesized by Microwave-Assisted Solution Combustion Method

Abstract

In this study, nanocrystalline (18–28 nm) perovskite-like bismuth ferrite rare earth-doped powders (Bi0.9RE0.1FeO3, where RE = La (BLaFO), Eu (BEuFO), and Er (BErFO)) were obtained by microwave-assisted modification of solution combustion synthesis (SCS). The influence of high load La3+, Eu3+, and Er3+ doping on structural, optical, and electrical properties of BiFeO3 was investigated. It was found that rare earth doping along with fast phase formation and quenching significantly distorts the crystal cells of the obtained materials, which results in the formation of mixed rhombohedral- (R3c-) orthorhombic (Pbnm) crystal structures with decreased lengths of Bi-O and Fe-O bonds along with a decreasing radius size of doping ions. This promotes reduction of the optical band gap energy and suppression of ionic polarization at high frequencies and results in enhanced dielectric permittivity of the materials at 1 MHz.

Structural, electrical, and magnetic study of La-, Eu-, and Er- doped bismuth ferrite nanomaterials obtained by solution combustion synthesis

“…A detailed description of the synthesis procedure, analysis of crystalline phases, and morphology of bismuth ferrite doped with lanthanum, europium, or erbium are presented in our previous work 36 . Herein, we have only provided a short description of the obtained data for a better understanding of our further results.…”

“…S1 ). All powders have a fine microstructure with aggregated grains of different morphology 36 , characteristic for SCS-obtained materials 28 . The EDX analysis showed the elemental composition of nanopowders close to the stoichiometric one.…”

“…The detailed procedure for the synthesis of examined materials is described in our previous article 36 . Herein we report only the general description of the main steps.…”

“…The SCS deserves special attention as it is considered to be time and energy-saving and easy to scale up 27 – 29 . Besides, this method has been successfully used for the synthesis of a broad variety of materials, including metals 30 , 31 , graphene 32 , simple and complex oxides including BiFeO 3 33 – 35 , so far only a few works have described the application of the SCS for rare-earth-doped BiFeO 3 preparation 36 .…”

Low-temperature magnetic properties of erbium doped bismuth nano-ferrites

“…Previous reports suggest that electromagnetic properties of BFO strongly depend on nanoscale structure. Decrease in particle size exhibits high magnetization due to the suppression of the spin cycloid structure [7]. Doping of Rare earth ions in BFO enhances the structural magnetic properties..…”