Ethylene glycol assisted three-dimensional floral evolution of BiFeO3-based nanostructures with effective magneto-electric response.

Syed Kumail Abbas,Ghulam M Mustafa,Shahzad Naseem,Murtaza Saleem,Shahid Atiq,Muhammad Sufyan,Saira Riaz

doi:10.1098/rsos.200642

Abstract

Controlled growth of nanostructures plays a vital role in tuning the physical and chemical properties of functional materials for advanced energy and memory storage devices. Herein, we synthesized hierarchical micro-sized flowers, built by the self-assembly of highly crystalline, two-dimensional nanoplates of Co- and Ni-doped BiFeO3, using a simple ethylene glycol-mediated solvothermal method. Pure BiFeO3 attained scattered one-dimensional nanorods-type morphology having diameter nearly 60 nm. Co-doping of Co and Ni at Fe-site in BiFeO3 does not destabilize the morphology; rather it generates three-dimensional floral patterns of self-assembled nanoplates. Unsaturated polarization loops obtained for BiFeO3 confirmed the leakage behaviour of these rhombohedrally distorted cubic perovskites. These loops were then used to determine the energy density of the BiFeO3 perovskites. Enhanced ferromagnetic behaviour with high coercivity and remanence was observed for these nanoplates. A detailed discussion about the origin of ferromagnetic behaviour based on Goodenough–Kanamori's rule is also a part of this paper. Impedance spectroscopy revealed a true Warburg capacitive behaviour of the synthesized nanoplates. High magneto-electric (ME) coefficient of 27 mV cm−1 Oe−1 at a bias field of −0.2 Oe was observed which confirmed the existence of ME coupling in these nanoplates.

Highlights

Nanostructures of multifunctional materials have been a subject of interest because of their exciting physical and chemical properties, mainly thanks to their high surface to volume ratio
BiFeO3 (BFO) nanostructures have been extensively studied for their multifunctional properties
Here, we report a series of Co and Ni co-doped BFO nanostructures synthesized using a solvothermal process to get controlled morphological attributes and to relate these with their multifunctional characteristics

Summary

Introduction

Nanostructures of multifunctional materials have been a subject of interest because of their exciting physical and chemical properties, mainly thanks to their high surface to volume ratio. Controlling the shape and size of micro and nanostructured multiferroics can significantly affect the physico-chemical properties of the materials [5] In this regard, BiFeO3 (BFO) nanostructures have been extensively studied for their multifunctional properties. Several studies have been performed in order to enhance the multiferroic characteristics of BFO nanoparticles in recent years. Depending upon the morphological impacts on the functional materials, it was of immense interest to synthesize the size- and shape-dependent BFO nanoparticles to study their electric and magnetic properties. In this context, here, we report a series of Co and Ni co-doped BFO nanostructures synthesized using a solvothermal process to get controlled morphological attributes and to relate these with their multifunctional characteristics. Systematic investigations regarding synthesis of BFO nanoparticles have been performed previously, but a detailed examination of morphological dependency on multifunctional properties still needed to be explored

Experimental

Results and discussion

Conclusion