Evidence for dielectric suppression in non-magnetic modified multiferroic bismuth ferrite

Abstract

Structural, magnetic, and electrical properties of polycrystalline Y-Sc codoped BiFeO3 (BFO) ceramics are investigated. Rietveld refinement and Raman spectroscopy analysis provide strong evidence of structural distortion without changing the structure of parent compound (rhombohedral: R3c) after codoping. Distortion due to nonmagnetic codoping marks an abrupt change in magnetic and electrical properties of BiFeO3. Ferromagnetic property is enhanced with a maximum remanent magnetization of 0.0045 emu/g at higher Sc-concentrations. Codoping improves the ferroelectric properties [Pr=13μC/cm2 at (Y,Sc)=(0.03,0.05)] due to the suppression of oxygen vacancies. The frequency-dependent dielectric properties at various temperatures are investigated. The relaxation peak shifts toward room temperature for Bi1−xYxFe1−yScyO3 ceramics, which eventually appeared above 100°C for parent BFO. The suppression of relaxation peak indicates the change in conduction mechanism for codoped ceramics. The conduction process and the relaxation mechanism in parent and Y-Sc codoped BiFeO3 are investigated with electrical modulus and impedance spectroscopy. Frequency-dependent ac conductivity at various temperatures indicates that the conduction mechanism follows the correlated barrier hopping model and is thermally activated. Temperature dependent conductivity studies at different frequencies reveal that the relaxation process in codoped ceramics is due to the long-range oxygen vacancy movement and the low loss values.