ABSTRACT
The study of multiferroic crystalline materials is of great technological and academic interest due to the correlation between their ferroelectric and ferromagnetic properties. In this work, ferroic properties of Nd-modified (A-site substitution) BiFeO3 (BNFO) compounds were studied. Ceramic compositions of Bi1-xNdxFeO3 (x = 0.10 and 0.20) were obtained through a route that included high-energy ball milling, isostatic pressing (to obtain the ceramic shape) and sintering in air. The X-ray diffraction data showed that these compositions have a distorted perovskite structure, with relative densities reaching 93%. Dielectric measurements showed a frequency independent step-like relaxation for the Bi0.9Nd0.1FeO3 composition and indicatives indications of thermally activated conduction processes for the Bi0.8Nd0.2FeO3 composition. Magnetic studies showed a breakdown of the typical magnetic cycloidal structure of BiFeO3.
Funding
The authors would like to thank the Brazilian agencies funding CNPq (procs. 446565/2014-8 and 445837/2014-4) and CAPES (Procad 88881.0658506/2014-01 and 88881.068509/2014-01, PVE 88881.030465/2013-01, and PAEP 23038.002278/2015-84) for financial support. R.G. and A.S.B. acknowledge NSF/INAMM and ONR W911NF-12-1-0082 for financial support.