Enhanced Magnetic Properties of BiFeO₃ Thin Films by Doping: Analysis of Structure and Morphology

Yilin Zhang; Yuhan Wang; Ji Qi; Yu Tian; Mingjie Sun; Junkai Zhang; Tingjing Hu; Maobin Wei; Yanqing Liu; Jinghai Yang

doi:10.3390/nano8090711

Enhanced Magnetic Properties of BiFeO₃ Thin Films by Doping: Analysis of Structure and Morphology

Nanomaterials (Basel). 2018 Sep 10;8(9):711. doi: 10.3390/nano8090711.

Authors

Yilin Zhang¹, Yuhan Wang², Ji Qi³, Yu Tian⁴, Mingjie Sun⁵, Junkai Zhang⁶, Tingjing Hu⁷, Maobin Wei⁸, Yanqing Liu⁹, Jinghai Yang¹⁰

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of Functional Materials Physics and Chemistry of the Ministry of Education, Jilin Normal University, Changchun 130103, China. youyigexiaoxiong@126.com.
² State Key Laboratory of Inorganic Synthesis and Preparative Chemistry, Jilin University, Changchun 130012, China. zjk8688@126.com.
³ Key Laboratory of Functional Materials Physics and Chemistry of the Ministry of Education, Jilin Normal University, Changchun 130103, China. m17519912307@163.com.
⁴ Key Laboratory of Functional Materials Physics and Chemistry of the Ministry of Education, Jilin Normal University, Changchun 130103, China. yh25330889@126.com.
⁵ Key Laboratory of Functional Materials Physics and Chemistry of the Ministry of Education, Jilin Normal University, Changchun 130103, China. j56751136@163.com.
⁶ Key Laboratory of Functional Materials Physics and Chemistry of the Ministry of Education, Jilin Normal University, Changchun 130103, China. jk156895@126.com.
⁷ Key Laboratory of Functional Materials Physics and Chemistry of the Ministry of Education, Jilin Normal University, Changchun 130103, China. tjhumars@126.com.
⁸ Key Laboratory of Functional Materials Physics and Chemistry of the Ministry of Education, Jilin Normal University, Changchun 130103, China. jlsdzccw@126.com.
⁹ Key Laboratory of Functional Materials Physics and Chemistry of the Ministry of Education, Jilin Normal University, Changchun 130103, China. liuyanqing@jlnu.edu.cn.
¹⁰ Key Laboratory of Functional Materials Physics and Chemistry of the Ministry of Education, Jilin Normal University, Changchun 130103, China. jhyang1@jlnu.edu.cn.

Abstract

The improvement of ferromagnetic properties is critical for the practical application of multiferroic materials, to be exact, BiFeO₃ (BFO). Herein, we have investigated the evolution in the structure and morphology of Ho or/and Mn-doped thin films and the related diversification in ferromagnetic behavior. BFO, Bi_0.95Ho_0.05FeO₃ (BHFO), BiFe_0.95Mn_0.05O₃ (BFMO) and Bi_0.95Ho_0.05Fe_0.95Mn_0.05O₃ (BHFMO) thin films are synthesized via the conventional sol-gel method. Density, size and phase structure are crucial to optimize the ferromagnetic properties. Specifically, under the applied magnetic field of 10 kOe, BHFO and BFMO thin films can produce obvious magnetic properties during magnetization and, additionally, doping with Ho and Mn (BHFMO) can achieve better magnetic properties. This enhancement is attributed to the lattice distortions caused by the ionic sizes difference between the doping agent and the host, the generation of the new exchange interactions and the inhibition of the antiferromagnetic spiral modulated spin structure. This study provides key insights of understanding the tunable ferromagnetic properties of co-doped BFO.

Keywords: BiFeO3; ferromagnetic properties; perovskite structure; substitution.

Abstract

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