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 ph ase pure BiFeO3 ceramic. The oxide mixing technique followed by leaching wi th dilute nitric acid has been used for the synthesis. X-ray diffraction pa ttern indicated that the sample is phase pure. Scanning electron microscopy along with energy dispersive x-ray fluorescence analysis confirmed the che mical homogeneity of the sample. No segregation of the impurity phase in th e matrix was detected. Moreover, Bi/Fe atomic ratio is observed to be simil ar to 1. The ferroelectric transition of the sample at 836 degrees C has be en detected by differential thermal analysis. (C) 2000 American Institute o f Physics. [S0003- 6951(00)00519-2].