ENHANCED STRUCTURAL AND OPTICAL PROPERTIES OF BISMUTH FERRITE (BiFeO3) NANOPARTICLES

Abstract

Multiferroic Bismuth Iron Oxide (BiFeO3) nanoparticles was synthesized via sol gel method. This study demonstrated the preparation of nanoparticles of bismuth ferrite at 550ᵒC. In this method Bismuth nitrate [Bi (NO3)3.5H2O] and iron nitrate [Fe (NO3)3.9H2O] were used as starting chemical agent. In order to overcome the volatility of Bismuth at high temperature, different weight percentages of chemicals were used. Citric acid was used as chelating agent. Thermal treatment was given to the samples at 550ᵒC. Bismuth Ferrite nanoparticles showed obvious ferromagnetic properties. The size of Bismuth Ferrite nanoparticles reduced as magnetization increased. As the concentration of chemical increased at 550ᵒC the particle size was reduced due to recrystallization. Sol Gel method helped to control the size of crystals. The characterization of prepared samples of Bismuth Ferrite Nanoparticles was done by using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM) and UV- visible for getting the information about surface morphology and crystallographic structure. X-ray diffraction result gave the information about the particle size and phase identification. UV- visible gave the information about the band gap energy of BiFeO3 nanoparticles. Scanning electron microscope result gave the information about surface morphology and grain size of nanoparticles at different resolutions.