Structural, electrical, and magnetic study of La-, Eu-, and Er- doped bismuth ferrite nanomaterials obtained by solution combustion synthesis

In this work, the multiferroic bismuth ferrite materials Bi0.9RE0.1FeO3 doped by rare-earth (RE = La, Eu, and Er) elements were obtained by the solution combustion synthesis. Structure, electrical, and magnetic properties of prepared samples were investigated by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Mossbauer spectroscopy, electrical hysteresis measurement, broadband dielectric spectroscopy, and SQUID magnetometry. All obtained nanomaterials are characterized by spontaneous electrical polarization, which confirmed their ferroelectric properties. Investigation of magnetic properties at 300.0 K and 2.0 K showed that all investigated Bi0.9RE0.1FeO3 ferrites possess significantly higher magnetization in comparison to bismuth ferrites obtained by different methods. The highest saturation magnetisation of 5.161 emu/g at 300.0 K was observed for the BLaFO sample, while at 2.0 K it was 12.07 emu/g for the BErFO sample. Several possible reasons for these phenomena were proposed and discussed.

Automated summary

Multiferroic bismuth ferrite materials doped with rare-earth elements were synthesized by solution combustion, showing ferroelectric properties and higher magnetization compared to bismuth ferrites obtained by other methods. The highest saturation magnetization was observed in the BLaFO sample at 300K and the BErFO sample at 2.0K. Several possible reasons for these phenomena were proposed and discussed.