Room-temperature ferromagnetism in Gd and Sn co-doped bismuth ferrite nanoparticles and co-doped BiFeO3/MXene (Ti3C2) nanohybrids for spintronics applications

Abstract

Room-temperature ferromagnetic materials are required for new flourishing spintronic technology. Synthesis of co-doped (Gd, Sn) BiFeO3 (Bi1-xGdxFe1-ySnyO3, x = 0, 0.1, 0.15, 0.25; y = 0.1) nanoparticles and nanohybrid co-doped BiFeO3/MXene system as well as structural morphological, electronic and ferromagnetic properties are analysed. XRD patterns showed distorted rhombohedral structure of pure BFO which undergoes transition of phase from rhombohedral to orthorhombic structure due to the Gd substitution in BFO. From SEM, clear voids and porous network can be observed and agglomeration of particles can be due to the addition of Gd substitutions to the BFO. The hysteresis behaviour was revealed for different concentrations of magnetically active Gd added in BFO host, increments in the concentration of Gd resulted in enhanced saturation magnetizations for different samples mainly due to the alteration in antiferromagnetic ordering at the particle's surface, phase transition due to the Gd substitution, collapse of space modulated spin, suppression of oxygen vacancies and increase in number of Fe ions. The magnetization of the hybrid system shows a clear hysteresis behaviour but with decreased saturation magnetization which is attributed to the super exchange effect at the BGFSO and Ti3C2 interface. Unlike the other reports on magnetism in 2D materials, the present work presents magnetic effect in MXene hybrid system which opens up new material designs for 2D spintronics.