Mg doping in BiFeO₃: An advantage over pure BiFeO₃ having enhanced ferroelectric and optical properties for opto-electronic device applications

ABSTRACT

Mg doped bismuth ferrite (BiFeO₃; BFO) ceramics named as Bi_1−xMg_xFeO₃ (BMO), with x = 0, 0.1, 0.15 and 0.2 were synthesized by solid state reaction routes. The structural characterization of the ceramics suggested that there was a slight distortion in the rhombohedral structure of BFO in the doped ceramics. The microstructural analysis revealed that the ceramics were distributed uniformly and homogeneously in Mg doped bismuth ferrite (BMO) as compared to that of pure BFO. The dielectric measurement showed that BMO possessed an enhanced dielectric and electrical properties than that of pure BFO. The ferroelectric measurements signified that BMO possessed comparatively high remanent polarization and lower coercive field than that of pure BFO indicating its (BMO's) enhanced ferroelectric properties. The optical properties illustrated that BMO had comparatively narrower optical energy band gap as compared to that of pure BFO. Hence Mg doped BFO (BMO) having good dielectric, electrical, ferroelectric and narrow band gap could have broader applications in opto-electronic devices than that of pure BFO.

KEYWORDS:

• Doping
• BiFeO₃
• BFO
• ferroelectric
• optical
• electrical and dielectric properties

Acknowledgments

The authors are thankful to Sambalpur University for providing the facilities for research works. The authors also thank NIT Raipur for providing the facilities of XRD and SEM study.

Funding

The authors thank University Grant Commissions (UGC) (F.No: 42–277/2013) (SR), New Delhi, Government of India, for the financial support and UGC-DRS & DST-FIST grant.

Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.