Magnetic and dielectric properties of Ca-substituted BiFeO3 nanoferrites by the sol-gel method.

Abstract

A multiferroic material can simultaneously show two or more basic magnetic properties, including ferromagnetism, antiferromagnetism, and ferroelectricity. BiFeO3 is a multiferroic material with a rhombohedral distorted perovskite structure. Doping can reduce the volatility of Bi and greatly improve the magnetoelectric properties of BiFeO3. To investigate the influence of the doping content we used the following analytical methods: X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), microwave network analysis (PNA-N5244A), and the Superconducting Quantum Interference Device (Quantum Design MPMS) test. With the increase of Ca2+ concentration in the solution, the grain size of Bi1- xCa xFeO3 becomes smaller, showing the role of Ca2+ ions as the dopant for fine grains. The calcination temperatures are the major causes for the saturated magnetization. The residual magnetization ( Mr) and the coercive force ( Hc) decrease linearly with the increase of x value, and due to the effect of Ca2+ substitution at Bi3+ sites, which causes the valence change of Fe and/or the oxygen vacancies. The XRD result indicates that the diffraction peak emerges with the increase of Ca2+ and the main diffraction peak achieves a high angle. The best calcining temperature is 600 °C, and the morphology is very dependent on the calcining temperature.