Structural, Morphological, and Magnetic Properties of Ba, Sm Doped and Ba–Sm Co‐Doped BiFeO3 Nanocrystalline Thin Films Deposited by a Spin Coating Method

Abstract

AbstractIn the present work, the BiFeO3, Bi0.9Ba0.1FeO3, Bi0.9Sm0.1FeO3, and Bi0.9Ba0.05Sm0.05FeO3 nanocrystalline thin films on Pt/TiO2/SiO2/Si (100) substrate are synthesized using the spin coating method, and the structural, morphological, and magnetic properties are systematically investigated. The X‐ray diffraction studies reveal that BiFeO3, Bi0.9Ba0.1FeO3, and Bi0.9Sm0.1FeO3 films exhibit a polycrystalline distorted rhombohedra crystal structure and belong to the R3c space group, whereas, Bi0.9Ba0.05Sm0.05FeO3 nanocrystalline film has shown a pure rhombohedral crystal structure. The grain size of the films is found to be 86, 75, and 63 nm for Bi0.9Ba0.1FeO3, Bi0.9Sm0.1FeO3, and Bi0.9Ba0.05Sm0.05FeO3, respectively. M−H measurements show that the magnetization considerably increases with Ba and Sm doping, and the highest magnetization is found to be 29 and 22 emu cm−3 at 10 and 300 K, respectively, in Bi0.9Sm0.1FeO3 film. Further, the blocking temperatures are found to be 100, 150, 130, and 50 K for BiFeO3, Bi0.9Ba0.1FeO3, Bi0.9Ba0.05Sm0.05FeO3, and Bi0.9Sm0.1FeO3, respectively.