Correlation of microstructural and physical properties in bulk BiFeO3 prepared by rapid liquid-phase sintering

BiFeO3 sample prepared by rapid liquid phase sintering (RLPS) technique is found to posses better dielectric properties than the subsequently annealed sample. These samples also show ferromagnetism at room temperature. Detailed X-ray diffraction and Rietveld refinement of the data show that oxygen -iron-oxygen (O-Fe-O) bond angle is considerably more distorted in samples prepared by rapid liquid-phase sintering technique than in the annealed sample. In addition, synchrotron X-ray diffraction as well as high resolution transmission electron microscopy studies show higher concentration of impurity phases in the annealed samples, which is the likely reason for inferior dielectric properties. Further transmission electron microscopy results indicate that high crystalline order is not necessary for better dielectric properties. However weak ferromagnetism is observed in all these samples and appears to be the intrinsic property of samples prepared by rapid liquid phase sintering technique. (C) 2012 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.