Mossbauer studies of Zn-substituted BiFeO3 multiferroic

This work presents an elaborate study of the effect in the structural and magnetic of BiFe1-xZnxO3 (x = 0, 0.05, 0.10, 0.15, 0.20, 0.25) multiferroic materials, synthesized via a sol-gel auto-combustion method. The synthesized materials are found to have structural distortion in the rhombohedral R3c structure as observed by X-ray diffraction (XRD). Other diffraction peaks were attributed to the second phase Bi25FeO40. The Mossbauer spectra (MS) of BiFe1-xZnxO3 (x = 0, 0.05, 0.10, 0.15) are fitted with a sextet and a doublet, and the presence of doublet also indicates the Bi25FeO40 phase. The results from XRD and MS both show that Zn-substituted BiFeO3 suffers adverse effects on the formation of pure BiFeO3. BiFe1-xZnxO3 (x = 0.20, 0.25) are fitted with only one paramagnetic doublet. The absence of sextet means that there is a magnetic destruction of samples on account of a thorough phase transition from a magnetic phase to a non-magnetic phase and/or successful ion substitution (iron ions were replaced with zinc ions).

Automated summary

This work investigates the structural and magnetic effects of BiFe1-xZnxO3 (x = 0, 0.05, 0.10, 0.15, 0.20, 0.25) multiferroic materials synthesized via a sol-gel auto-combustion method. Results show that Zn-substitution in BiFeO3 has adverse effects on the formation of pure BiFeO3, leading to a magnetic destruction due to a phase transition or successful ion substitution.