Electrical and structural properties of La doped BiFeO3

Abstract

In this research work, the structural, electrical, dielectric and optical properties of 1.05Bi1-xLaxFeO3(0.0 ≤ x ≤0.05) nanoparticles have been reported. Sol-gel method was used to synthesize the nanoparticles. These materials have been analyzed by X-ray diffraction (XRD), dielectric measurements, P-E hysteresis loop measurements and UV-vis spectroscopy. The analysis of XRD spectra displayed rhombohedral structure at room temperature and the presence of few secondary phase formations. The average particle size of pure BFO and La-3%, 5% doped BFO was found to be decreasing from 53 nm to 29 nm with increasing La concentration. The effect of La subrogation on dielectric constant and dielectric loss of the samples was calculated at room temperature in a range of frequency 0 MHz – 5 MHz. The ferroelectric measurements displayed that remnant polarization of La (3% & 5%) doped BFO were found to be about 0.60 µC/cm2at an applied field of 17.35 kV/cm and 56 µC/cm2at an applied field of 42.87 kV/cm at 50 Hz frequency. Weak ferroelectric effect has been observed for La doped BiFeO3 compound.