Synthesis and Optimization of BiFeO₃ and La-Doped BiFeO₃ Prepared by the Solid State Reaction Method

In the last few decades, due to their interesting and potentially useful properties, multiferroic materials have attracted the attention of researchers. These are defined as those materials that simultaneously present more than one ferroic property such as ferroelectricity and anti-ferromagnetism. Among these materials, we find BiFeO₃, considered an advanced ceramic, with great potential in technological applications, especially for information storage. The difficulty of finding multiferroics in nature has limited its use. BiFeO₃ involves some difficulties in its synthesis such as the appearance of impurities and unwanted secondary phases. In the present work, the synthesis of this perovskite from two oxides, by the solid state reaction method is reported. The compounds were characterized by XRD, UV–VIS and their resulting dielectric properties are presented.