ABSTRACT
Bismuth ferrite (BiFeO3) is a smart ceramic material that possesses multiferroic properties. This chapter presents an overview of the aliovalent doping of these multiferroic nanocrystals for the betterment of particle characteristics. It presents an overview of sol-gel synthesis and characterizations of nanosized, phase-pure, single-crystalline BiFeO3 (BFO) ceramics substituted with Ba2+, Sr2+, and Ca2+ ions. The chapter discusses the effect of the nature and concentration of alkaline earth dopants on the structural, magnetic, optical, and dielectric properties of BFO nanoparticles (NPs). It then examines x-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns of all the samples confirming clean phase formation of BFO, Ba-doped BFO (BBFO), and BSFO NPs. The hyperfine properties of BFO and doped BFO NPs were studied by Fe Mossbauer spectroscopy. Numerous magnetization studies of antiferromagnetic NPs have shown that the magnetization in large applied fields is considerably larger than that in the corresponding bulk materials.
