Enhanced magnetic properties of Sm and Mn co-doped BiFeO3 nanoparticles at room temperature

Bi1-xSmxFe1-yMnyO3 nanoparticles were successfully synthesized by cost effective ethylene glycol based solution combustion route. The XRD patterns confirm the formation of pure phase rhombohedral structure in BFO. The Sm and Mn co-doping at A- and B-site of BFO results in structural distortion, improves particles surface morphology and reduces the average particles size to around 15 nm. The presence of two absorption IR bands around 438 cm(-1) and 558 cm(-1) supports the formation of perovskite structure in co-doped sample. The saturation magnetization (Ms) increases significantly with co-doping at room temperature which is about 13 times larger than that of pure BFO, and is attributed to size effect. The hysteresis loss (coercivity) decreases with co-doping due to decrease in magnetocrystalline anisotropy. The increased value of ME coefficient at room temperature provides indirect evidence for the collapse of space modulated spin structure and subsequently improved magnetic properties of co-doped BFO. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.