Low-temperature synthesis of nanosized bismuth ferrite by soft chemical route

The present research describes a simple low-temperature synthesis route of preparing bismuth ferrite nanopowders through soft chemical route using nitrates of Bismuth and Iron. Tartaric acid is used as a template material and nitric acid as an oxidizing agent. The synthesized powders are characterized by X-ray diffractometry, thermogravimetry and differential thermal analysis, infrared spectroscopy, and scanning electron microscopy. The particle size of the powder lies between 3 and 16 nm. In the process, phase pure bismuth ferrite can be obtained at a temperature as low as 400 degrees C, in contrast to 550 degrees C for coprecipitation route. On the other hand, we find that, like solid state reaction route, Pechini's autocombustion method of synthesis generates a lot of impurity phases along with bismuth ferrite.