Magnetic and dielectric properties of Eu-doped BiFeO3 nanoparticles by acetic acid-assisted sol-gel method

The BiFeO3 nanoparticles, having an average size of 13 nm, were synthesized by a simple sol-gel method. The samples possess single phase up to 2% Eu doping at the Bi site. The uncompensated spin moments on the surface and the modification of cycloidal spin structure due to the small size (13 nm) result in a ferromagnetic phase of the BiFeO3 nanoparticles. The successful doping of magnetically active Eu3+ ions in BiFeO3 nanoparticles improves the ferromagnetic property. The similar dependency of saturation magnetization, coercive field, and dielectric constant on Eu doping concentration reveals that a correlation between magnetic and dielectric properties exists in Eu-doped BiFeO3 nanoparticles. (C) 2011 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3662178]