abstract
Pristine (BiFeO3), Pr and Sc co-substituted Bi0.9Pr0.1Fe1-xScxO3 (0.01 <= x <= 0.07) ceramics have been investigated for their structural (including x-ray diffraction and Raman), morphological and piezoresponse behaviour. Secondary phases observed in pristine BiFeO3 (BFO) ceramic were significantly suppressed in the co-substituted samples. Grain size decreased in the co-substituted samples. Raman study revealed ten active phonon modes which remained almost invariant with co-substitution. Out-of-plane piezoresponse (OPP-PFM) exhibited negative self-polarization effect in the virgin state (without any poling) which has been explained in terms of built-in electric field. The self-polarization effect is largest in 3% Sc co-substituted sample. Poling with +/- 30 V dc voltage demonstrated both positive and negative domains. Maximum difference in the peak values (from histograms) of such opposite domains was observed in the Bi0.9Pr0.1Fe0.99Sc0.01O3 sample. Information from local measurements (such as PFM) should be useful in deciding such multiferroic materials for device application.
keywords
POLARIZED RAMAN-SCATTERING; THIN-FILMS; BISMUTH FERRITE; MULTIFERROICS; FIELD
subject category
Physics
authors
Coondoo, I; Panwar, N; Bdikin, I; Puli, VS; Katiyar, RS; Kholkin, AL
our authors
Andrei Kholkin
Retired Researcher
Indrani Coondoo
Junior Researcher
Neeraj Panwar
Post-doc Fellowshipacknowledgements
One of the authors (NP) would like to thank the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) for the financial support through postdoctoral grant (SFRH/BPD/71289/2010).