Structural, morphological and multiferroic properties of the hydrothermally grown gadolinium (Gd) and manganese (Mn) doped sub-micron bismuth ferrites.

Pure BiFeO 3 and Gd, Mn doped BiFeO 3 particles were synthesized with a hydrothermal method in a reaction solution containing a mineralizer of KOH. The products were characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscope, transmission electron microscope, Raman spectroscopy, physical property measurement system and ferroelectric test system. Rietveld refinement and Raman spectra results reflect that the Gd, Mn doped samples undergo compositional-driven phase transition from rhombohedral to orthorhombic. Selected area electron diffraction and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy confirm the single-crystalline nature of our as-prepared samples. Compared with the linear magnetization-magnetic field relation in pure BiFeO 3 particles, a clear hysteresis M–H loop can be observed in the Bi 0.9 Gd 0.1 FeO 3 sample, which is ascribed to distorted spin cycloid and the magnetically active characteristic of Gd 3+ . Enhanced ferroelectric properties and reduced leakage current density were obtained in BiFe 0.9 Mn 0.1 O 3 and Bi 0.9 Gd 0.1 Fe 0.9 Mn 0.1 O 3 . The leakage current density of the BiFe 0.9 Mn 0.1 O 3 and Bi 0.9 Gd 0.1 Fe 0.9 Mn 0.1 O 3 was reduced by two orders of magnitude as compared to that of pure BiFeO 3 . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]