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Crystal field modification via rare earth ions (Dy, Nd) incorporation on BiFeO3 fine nanoparticles

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Abstract

Rare earth (Dy, Nd)-doped and co-doped multiferroic bismuth ferrites nanoparticles (NPs) with formulas Bi1 − xDyxFeO3 (x = 0, 0.02 and 0.04), Bi1−yNdyFeO3 (y = 0.02 and 0.04) and Bi1− x−yDyxNdyFeO3 (x = 0.02 and y = 0.02) were synthesized by a controlled hydrothermal process. X-ray diffraction (XRD) confirmed the presence of the typical rhombohedral distorted perovskite structure of BiFeO3 (BFO) for all synthesized nanopowders. Whereas a slight impurity phase started to appear in both 4% Dy- and 4% Nd-doped BFO samples. The crystallite sizes as determined by Scherrer equation were found to increase slightly with doping. In close agreement, images seen by TEM confirmed the size of nanoparticles. EDX analysis confirmed the presence of elements in such sample. Optical study revealed a clear crystal field and band structure modification. Direct optical bandgap determined through Tauc plot deduced from reflectance measurement showed a remarkable decrease in value. The real and imaginary parts of dielectric constant (ε’, ε”) show a maximum increase on co-doped BFO concomitant with remarkable increase in dielectric loss (tan δ) which indicates substantial enlarge in leakage current density. Further, the pure BFO shows a well-defined dielectric loss peak, which shifts toward higher frequency for doped NPs. Vacancies proliferation is one of the main sources of movable space charges in BFO and, through, for leakage current.

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Acknowledgements

The authors want to thank Loic Patout for TEM observations at CP2M and IM2NP (France), Brahim Dkhil for XRD and Reflectance measurements at SPMS CentraleSupélec of Université Paris-Saclay (France).

Funding

This research was supported by the « Ministère de l’Enseignement et la Recherche Scientifique », Laboratoire LR99ES17, « PRF2019-D4P2 », « Tunisio-Marrocain 20/R&D23 », and « PHC Utique 21G1408 » projects.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratoire Matériaux Organisation et Propriétés (LR99ES17), Faculté des Sciences de Tunis, Université de Tunis El Manar, 2092, Tunis, Tunisie

    Wael Ben Taazayet, Ikbel Mallek Zouari & Najeh Thabet Mliki

  2. Institut Supérieur des Etudes Technologiques en Communications de Tunis (El Ghazala), Ariana, Tunisie

    Ikbel Mallek Zouari

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  1. Wael Ben Taazayet
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WB: Investigation, Data curation and Writing-Original draft preparation. IM: discussion the results of the manuscript. NT: discussion, validation, and supervision.

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Correspondence to Wael Ben Taazayet.

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Ben Taazayet, W., Mallek Zouari, I. & Thabet Mliki, N. Crystal field modification via rare earth ions (Dy, Nd) incorporation on BiFeO3 fine nanoparticles. J Mater Sci: Mater Electron 34, 2110 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-023-11487-3

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