Synthesis and Characterization of Ba2+, La3+, Zr4+ Co-Modified Multiferroic BiFeO3

Abstract

The objective of this research project was to reduce the electrical leakage, enhance the magnetic and electric property as well as to stabilize the BiFO3 structure by co-doping La, Ba and Zr. At first the solid state sintering process was done to synthesize the Bi.8LaXBa0.2 − xFe.95 Zr.05O3 (where, x = 0.05, 0.10, 0.15, 0.20). X-ray diffraction data revealed a stabilized R3C structure with the dopants. The amount of zirconia in B-site resulted in the reduction of vacancy which ultimately reduced leakage current. For the higher percentage of Ba2+ the oxygen vacancy increased which led to higher leakage current. Thus for increasing the La3+ up to 15 mole % with decreasing Ba2+ dielectric constant increased For further addition of La3+ (i.e. 20%) the dielectric constant decreased again. From the SEM analysis the coherent grain size was confirmed for the temperature at 950°C. With the increase of La3+ and decrease of Ba2+ the grain size increased. For the composition with 5% of La3+, the p-loop was found to be satisfactory with the remnant polarization of 0.25 (µC/cm2) and the coercivity of 330V. However the p-e loop for the other compositions was found to be unsatisfactory.