Hydrothermal synthesis of perovskite bismuth ferrite crystallites

A low-temperature hydrothermal synthesis route was utilized to fabricate single-phase BiFeO3 (BFO) crystallites. Effects of the initial KOH concentration, reaction temperature and duration time on the phase evolution, the particle size and morphologies of BFO crystallites were systematically investigated. X-ray diffraction results indicated that perovskite 13170 crystallites have been synthesized at the temperature of 200 degrees C using the KOH concentration of 4 M. Scanning electron microscopy observation revealed a homogeneous size distribution of submicron BFO powders. The ferroelectric Curie temperature of our hydrothermal BFO crystallites was determined to be 825 degrees C by differential thermal analysis. The hydrothermal reactions to form crystalline BFO powders were discussed based on the dissolution-crystallization process. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.