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Polar properties of hydrothermally synthesized BiFeO3 thin films

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Abstract

Multiferroic bismuth ferrite (BiFeO3) has attracted considerable attention due to applications related to the bulk photovoltaic effect in which the direction of polarization determines the direction of the photocurrent. Epitaxial thin films are produced by means of techniques that usually require high temperature processes. The hydrothermal method can be seen as an alternative route to obtain highly textured thin films in quantities compatible with batch processing; nevertheless, the structural, dielectric and electric properties are generally affected by the presence of hydrogen and other reaction by-products. In this work, functional and highly textured BiFeO3 films were successfully produced on metallic SrTiO3:Nb (0.5 wt.%) (100) substrates via hydrothermal synthesis. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) were used to analyze the structural properties of the films. Piezoresponse Force Microscopy (PFM) and Photoconductive Atomic Force Microscopy (Pc-AFM) were used to determine their functional properties. We show the polarization switching and confirm the presence of the bulk photovoltaic effect for the first time in hydrothermally synthesized BiFeO3.

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Acknowledgement

Financial support from Fonds de recherché du Quebec—Nature et technologies, FRQNT; The Natural sciences and engineering research council of Canada, NSERC; and the Canadian institute for photonics innovations, CIPI, is gratefully acknowledged. The collaboration between C.G.-Y. and A.R. was generously supported by MRIFCE and Conacyt.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre Énergie, Matériaux et Télécommunications, INRS, 1650 boul. Lionel-Boulet, Varennes, Québec, J3X1S2, Canada

    Ivan A. Velasco-Davalos, Mathieu Moretti, Mischa Nicklaus, Christian Nauenheim, Shun Li, Riad Nechache & Andreas Ruediger

  2. 3IT, Université de Sherbrooke, 2500 boul. de l’Université, Sherbrooke, Québec, J1K2R1, Canada

    Christian Nauenheim

  3. Department of Chemical Science and Technology and NAST Center, University of Rome, Tor Vergata Via della Ricerca Scientifica 1, 00133, Rome, Italy

    Riad Nechache

  4. Departmento de Ingeniería Metalúrgica, Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Zacatenco, 07338, México D.F., Mexico

    Carlos Gomez-Yanez

Authors
  1. Ivan A. Velasco-Davalos
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  2. Mathieu Moretti
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  3. Mischa Nicklaus
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  4. Christian Nauenheim
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  5. Shun Li
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  6. Riad Nechache
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  7. Carlos Gomez-Yanez
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  8. Andreas Ruediger
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Correspondence to Andreas Ruediger.

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Velasco-Davalos, I.A., Moretti, M., Nicklaus, M. et al. Polar properties of hydrothermally synthesized BiFeO3 thin films. Appl. Phys. A 115, 1081–1085 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-013-7952-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-013-7952-4

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