Low-Temperature Synthesis and Characterization of Single-Phase BiFeO3 Nano-Crystallites

Single-phase BiFeO₃ (BFO) nano-crystallites were successfully synthesized in the temperature range of 500  750 oC by a simple diluted HNO3 sol method. During the crystallization process no intermediate phases were observed. As an example, we studied the electronic structure and thermodynamic stability of the BFO nano-crystallites calcined at 750 oC by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The XPS showed that the oxidation state of Fe is Fe3+. The DSC indicated a novel exothermic peak at about 769 oC during cooling, which might be due to Bi2Fe4O9 or some other phases produced in the decomposition of BFO at high temperature.