Correlation between morphology and magnetic properties in Zr doped BiFeO3 nanoparticles

Multiferroic gained attention in the past decade owing to their fascinating properties and applications. Herein, we implemented flash combustion method to synthesize BiZrxFe1-xO3; 0x0.07. The X-ray data analysis revealed the dependence of the unit cell volume on the Zr4+ concentration, where it decreased with increasing the later. The change in the lattice parameters a(R) of the rhombohedral unit cell with Zr content follows the same trend of the c-axis in the hexagonal system, in which the angle () is increased up to x=0.05 and then decreased in accordance with the behavior of a. Platelets of hexagonal shape with slight agglomeration were observed using field emission scanning microscope. Homogenous size distribution is the main feature of the nanocrystals. For the samples with x=0.01, some nanofibers were grown on the surface of the existed hexagonal platelets. The magnetic hysteresis loops indicated antiferromagnetic trend. The saturation magnetization M-s increased significantly from 0.2 emu/g at x=0 to 1.4 emu/g at x=0.03. The values of H-c were found to increase sharply from 83 Oe at x=0 to about 192 Oe at x=0.01 due to shape anisotropy.