Effect of KNbO3 modification on structural, electrical and magnetic properties of BiFeO3

The polycrystalline samples of (Bi1-x K (x) ) (Fe1-x Nb (x) ) O-3 (BKFN) for x = 0.0, 0.1, 0.2 and 0.3 were synthesized by a solid-state reaction method. The X-ray diffraction patterns of BKFN exhibit that the addition of KNbO3 in BiFeO3 gradually changes its structure from rhombohedral to pseudocubic. The analysis of scanning electron micrograph clearly showed that the sintered samples have well-defined and uniformly distributed grains. Addition of KNbO3 to BiFeO3 enhances the dielectric, ferroelectric and ferromagnetic properties of BiFeO3. Detailed studies of impedance and related parameters of BKFN using the complex impedance spectroscopic technique exhibit the significant contributions of grain and grain boundaries in the resistive and transport properties of the materials. Some oxygen vacancies created in the ceramic samples during high-temperature processing play an important role in the conduction mechanism. The leakage current or tangent loss of BiFeO3 is greatly reduced on addition of KNbO3 to the parent compound BiFeO3. Preliminary studies of ferroelectric and magnetic characteristics of the samples reveal the existence of ferroelectric, and weak ferromagnetic ordered ceramics.