Ferroelectricity in a pure BiFeO3 ceramic

The difficulties in synthesizing phase pure BiFeO₃ are well known. In this letter we are reporting the optimized synthesis conditions for obtaining phase pure BiFeO₃ ceramic. The oxide mixing technique followed by leaching with dilute nitric acid has been used for the synthesis. X-ray diffraction pattern indicated that the sample is phase pure. Scanning electron microscopy along with energy dispersive x-ray fluorescence analysis confirmed the chemical homogeneity of the sample. No segregation of the impurity phase in the matrix was detected. Moreover, Bi/Fe atomic ratio is observed to be ∼1. The ferroelectric transition of the sample at 836 °C has been detected by differential thermal analysis.