Beneficial modification of the properties of multiferroic BiFeO 3 by cation substitution

Abstract

The effects of modifying the well-known multiferroic BiFeO 3 by substituting Fe by Mn and Bi by La have been investigated. It is shown that both the substitutions have a favourable effect on the multiferroic properties of BiFeO 3. Thus, both BiFe 1− x Mn x O 3 and Bi 1− x La x FeO 3 ( x = 0.0–0.3) show increased magnetization accompanied by hysteresis loops as well as improved dielectric properties. The ferroelectric transition temperature is lower than that of BiFeO 3, but is in a more accessible range. In Bi 1− x La x FeO 3, there is a change in structure at x = 0.2.