The phase transition and phase stability of magnetoelectric BiFeO3

• DOI: 10.1016/j.msea.2006.01.117
• Publication Date: 2006-07-26T02:25:07Z
• Authors: M.C. Li; Judith Driscoll; L.H. Liu; L.C. Zhao
• Keywords: 0103 physical sciences; 01 natural sciences

Abstract A study of phase stability of BiFeO 3 has been carried out employing a solid-state ionic titration technique, which involved yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) solid electrolyte. As oxygen was intermittently titrated out of the sample, the oxygen activity monotonically decreased in the system until the oxygen nonstoichiometry in the BiFeO 3 phase reached its limiting value. We have observed the appearance of a plateau at this point where the BiFeO 3 phase started to undergo a decomposition reaction. X-ray diffraction data show that BiFeO 3 phase is transforming to a new Bi 25 FeO 40 phase. Especially, an interesting result is that Bi 2 Fe 4 O 9 was determined in the decomposed components. Therefore, further research is needed about the decomposition reaction of BiFeO 3 . This work is useful for the production of novel devices.