Electrical and magnetic properties of single-phased and highly resistive ferroelectromagnet BiFeO3 ceramic

Investigation of BiFeO3 is being conducted intensively. However, preparing perfect samples with high resistance is still a prerequisite for the clarification of the properties of BiFeO3. Here we report electrical and magnetic properties and phase transitions of BiFeO3 ceramic synthesized by a rapid sintering processing. The dependence of the sintering products on the sintering temperatures revealed that single-phased BiFeO3 ceramic was synthesized at 880 degrees C using this rapid sintering technique. The as-prepared BiFeO3 sample shows a high resistivity of 6.7 x 10(10) Omega cm at an external electric field of 100 kVcm(-1). Vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) measurement verified that the high resistance BiFeO3 ceramic presented an antiferromagnetic characterization.