Hydrogen Peroxide-Assisted Hydrothermal Synthesis of BiFeO₃ Microspheres and Their Dielectric Behavior

Abstract

Despite considerable efforts undertaken in a rapidly developing area of multiferroic research, synthesis of phase pure BiFeO3 is still a matter of intensive research. In this work, we report the shape-controlled synthesis of pure BiFeO3 microspheres via a facile hydrothermal route. The prepared BiFeO3 powder has been characterized using powder X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Differential Thermal analysis (DTA), Scanning Electron microscopy (SEM), and impedance spectroscopy. Powder XRD analysis confirms the formation of pure rhombohedrally distorted perovskite with R3c space group. Scanning electron micrograph revealed that the prepared BiFeO3 microspheres are nearly spherical in shape with uniform size distribution. The BiFeO3 microspheres exhibit a dielectric constant value of ~110 at 1000 KHz, which is higher than the BiFeO3 prepared by conventional solid-state reaction and sol–gel method. Variation of dielectric constant with temperature at different frequencies shows that the BiFeO3 has a dielectric anomaly of ferroelectric to paraelectric type at 1093 K and this phenomenon is well supported by TGA results.

Keywords

• hydrothermal synthesis
• multiferroics
• dielectric behavior
• hydrogen peroxide
• bismuth ferrite