Electrical and magnetic properties of nanocrystalline BiFeO <inf>3</inf> prepared by high energy ball milling and microwave sintering

A new synthesis route with high energy ball milling and microwave sintering is used to obtain nanocrystalline BiFeO 3 with improved dielectric and magnetic properties. Electrical and magnetic properties are compared with a conventionally sintered microcrystalline BiFeO 3. It is found that the dielectric constant is increased more than one order of magnitude, electrical resistivity by six orders of magnitude and remnant polarization value is increased by 4-5 times for nanocrystalline BiFeO 3 in comparison to conventionally sintered microcrystalline BiFeO 3. Nanocrystalline BiFeO 3 is seen to have ferromagnetic behavior whereas microcrystalline BiFeO 3 is known to be antiferromagnetic. Copyright © 2011 American Scientific Publishers All rights reserved.