Magnetoelectric multiferroic BiFeO3 (BFO) was synthesized by a simple carbonate precipitation technique of metal nitrate solutions. X-ray powder diffraction and thermo-gravimetric analysis (TGA) revealed that the precipitate consists of an intimate mixture of crystalline bismuth carbonate and an amorphous hydroxide of iron. The precipitate yielded BiFeO3 at an optimal calcination temperature of...

Remarkably enhanced photovoltaic effects have been observed in the heterostructures of p-type A-site Nd3+-doped BiFeO3 (Bi0.9375Nd0.0625)FeO3 (or BFONd) polycrystalline ceramics and the n-type ITO thin film. The maximum power conversion is ~0.82%, which is larger than 0.015% in BiFeO3 (BFO) under blue-ultraviolet irradiation of wavelength λ = 405 nm. The current-voltage (I-V) characteristic cur...

Ultrafast spectroscopy can provide unique tools to study and control electronic and structural dynamics on a femtosecond time scale. Here we study, the yet little explored multiferroic material, BaTiO3-BiFeO3 (BTO-BFO), that has demonstrated enhanced magnetic properties, a higher DC resistance in comparison to BFO, and improved magnetoelectric coupling. Our studies include ultrafast time resolv...

BiFeO3 (BFO) multiferroic oxide has a complex phase diagram that can be mapped by using appropriately substrate-induced strain in epitaxial films. By using Raman spectroscopy, we conclusively show that films of the so-called supertetragonal T-BFO phase, stabilized under compressive strain, display a reversible temperature-induced phase transition at about 100 °C, and thus close to room temperat...

Control over ferroelectric polarization variants in BiFeO3 films through the use of various vicinal SrTiO3 substrates is demonstrated. The ferroelectric polarization variants in these films are characterized by piezoelectric force microscopy and the corresponding structural variants are carefully analyzed and confirmed by X-ray diffraction. Implementation of this approach has given us the abili...

In this study, Pb(Zr0.52Ti0.48)O3/BiFeO3 [PZT/BFO] multilayer thin films were fabricated using the spin-coating method on a Pt(200 nm)/Ti(10 nm)/SiO2(100 nm)/p-Si(100) substrate alternately using BFO and PZT metal alkoxide solutions. The coating-and-heating procedure was repeated several times to form the multilayer thin films. All PZT/BFO multilayer thin films show a void-free, uniform grain s...

Improvement of ferroelectric property by LaNiO3 (LNO) electrode on superlattice films was shown in this study. High quality asymmetric multiferroic 5 at% La-doped BiFeO3 (BFO) and paraelectric SrTiO3 confirmed by clear main feature and satellite features around (0 0 2) STO substrate Bragg peak shown in (0 0 2) radial scan spectrum. The results of in-pane crystal truncation rod (CTR) spectrum an...

Single phase BiFeO3 (BFO) nanoparticles as a visible light photocatalyst were successfully synthesized by thermal decomposition of the glyoxylate precursor. The glyoxylate precursors were formed by the redox reaction between ethylene glycol and nitrate ions. The phase evolution, structure and optical properties of BFO nanoparticles were characterized by X-ray diffraction, electron microscopy an...

Bismuth ferrite (BiFeO3 or BFO) has recently been intensively investigated due to its ability to exhibit a rare combination of both ferroelectric and antiferromagnetic ordering at room temperature [1]. Current literature shows that several solid solutions between BFO and rare-earth (La, Nd, Sm, Gd) ferrites, exhibit morphotropic phase boundary (MPB) between a polar (rhombohedral) and non-polar ...