Pr and Cr co-doped BiFeO3 nanotubes: an advance multiferroic oxide material

Arrays of single phase pure and Pr-Cr co-doped BiFeO3 (BFO) nanotubes (NTs) with compositions BiFeO3 and Bi0.9Pr0.1Fe0.9Cr0.1O3 have been synthesized using Anodic Aluminium Oxide (AAO) template (pore diameter similar to 250 nm) by wet chemical liquid phase deposition technique. All the NTs show ferromagnetic nature at room temperature (RT). Better magnetic properties are observed in the co-doped BFO NTs with the value of saturation magnetization (MS) similar to 49 memu/g, magnetization at the remanence (M-R) similar to 12 memu/g and coercive field (H-C) similar to 103 Oe. Increase of ferromagnetic signature in the co-doped BFO NTs is believed to be due to the collapse of the space-modulated spin structure. Significant increase in the dielectric characteristics in co-doped BFO NTs suggests lowering of leakage current due to the reduction of the oxygen vacancies in the structure. Strong Magnetodielectric effect (MD), expressed by [epsilon(r)(H)-epsilon(r)(0)]/epsilon(r)(0) is observed in doped BFO NTs, where the increase of the dielectric constant is noticeable with the increase in the applied magnetic field. The codoped BFO NTs show noticeable increase in MD effect at a lower field (1-2 kOe).