Ferroelectric nanowires have attracted great attention due to their excellent physical properties. We report the domain structure, ferroelectric, piezoelectric, and conductive properties of bismuth ferrite (BFO, short for BiFeO₃) nanowires characterized by scanning probe microscopy (SPM). The X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern presents single phase BFO without other obvious impurities. The piezoresponse force microscopy (PFM) results indicate that the nanowires possess a multidomain configuration, and the maximum piezoelectric coefficient (d33) of single BFO nanowire is 22.21 pm/V. Poling experiments and local switching spectroscopy piezoresponse force microscopy (SS-PFM) demonstrate that there is sufficient polarization switching behavior and obvious piezoelectric properties in BFO nanowires. The conducting atomic force microscopy (C-AFM) results show that the current is just hundreds of pA at 8 V. These lay the foundation for the application of BFO nanowires in nanodevices.
Keywords: SPM; bismuth ferrite; micro-area; nanowire.