Synthesis and ferroelectric properties of Nd doped multiferroic BiFeO3 nanotubes

Nd doped multiferroic BiFeO3 (Bi0.94Nd0.06FeO3 (BNF)) nanotubes were successfully synthesized by a sol-gel template method. Electron microscopy investigations exhibited that these nanotubes had straight and smooth profile with diameters of about 200 nm and wall thickness of about 20 nm. A perovskite-type structure of BNF was confirmed in the nanotubes by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy and selected area electron diffraction analysis. These nanotubes had high resistivity. The dielectric constant and dielectric loss of the nanotubes were 126 and 0.040 at 1 MHz, respectively. The ferroelectric properties of these BNF nanotubes were demonstrated with a remnant polarization of 48 mu C/cm(2) and a coercive electric field of 163 kV/cm.