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Room temperature exchange bias in multiferroic BiFeO3 nano- and microcrystals with antiferromagnetic core and two-dimensional diluted antiferromagnetic shell

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Abstract

Exchange bias (EB) of multiferroics presents many potential opportunities for magnetic devices. However, instead of using low-temperature field cooling in the hysteresis loop measurement, which usually shows an effective approach to obtain obvious EB phenomenon, there are few room temperature EB. In this article, extensive studies on room temperature EB without field cooling were observed in BiFeO3 nano- and microcrystals. Moreover, with increasing size the hysteresis loops shift from horizontal negative exchange bias (NEB) to positive exchange bias (PEB). In order to explain the tunable EB behaviors with size dependence, a phenomenological qualitative model based on the framework of antiferromagnetic (AFM) core-two-dimensional diluted antiferromagnet in a field (2D-DAFF) shell structure was proposed. The training effect (TE) ascertained the validity of model and the presence of unstable magnetic structure using Binek’s model. Experimental results show that the tunable EB effect can be explained by the competition of ferromagnetic (FM) exchange coupling and AFM exchange coupling interaction between AFM core and 2D-DAFF shell. Additionally, the local distortion of lattice fringes was observed in hexagonal-shaped BiFeO3 nanocrystals with well-dispersed behavior. The electrical conduction properties agreed well with the space charge-limited conduction mechanism.

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Acknowledgements

This work was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Project Nos. 11104202 and 51572193) and the Research Grant Council of Hong Kong (Project No. HKU 702112P and RGC 701813).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Physics and Materials Science, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin, 300387, China

    Chuang Zhang, Shou Yu Wang, Xiu Li & De Jun Li

  2. Tianjin Key Laboratory of Low-Dimensional Materials, Physics, and Preparing Technology, Faculty of Science, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300072, China

    Wei Fang Liu & Xun Ling Xu

  3. Department of Materials Science & Engineering, National University of Singapore, 9 Engineering Drive 1, Singapore, 117576, Singapore

    Hong Zhang

  4. Department of Physics, University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong, China

    Ju Gao

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  1. Chuang Zhang
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  2. Shou Yu Wang
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  3. Wei Fang Liu
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  4. Xun Ling Xu
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  5. Xiu Li
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  6. Hong Zhang
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Correspondence to Shou Yu Wang or Wei Fang Liu.

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Zhang, C., Wang, S.Y., Liu, W.F. et al. Room temperature exchange bias in multiferroic BiFeO3 nano- and microcrystals with antiferromagnetic core and two-dimensional diluted antiferromagnetic shell. J Nanopart Res 19, 182 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-017-3880-0

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