A brief comparison of structural and magnetic properties of bismuth ferrite prepared using hydrothermal and sol–gel synthesis methods

A succinct comparison of bismuth ferrite samples prepared using hydrothermal and sol–gel synthesis routes on structural and magnetic behavior is reported. X-ray diffraction studies confirm rhombohedral structure with the presence of an additional impurity phase and is found to be higher for the sol–gel method prepared sample than in comparison with the hydrothermal method. Distinguishable grains were obtained in hydrothermally prepared samples, which might be attributed to low levels of bismuth loss during the synthesis. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy confirms the presence of oxygen-metal ion bonds at different peak positions for two synthesis methods. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy shows the peaks pertaining to iron, bismuth, and oxygen ions at their respective binding energies. Higher saturation magnetization is observed for bismuth ferrite sample synthesized using hydrothermal methods and this clearly refer to the higher contribution of the iron ions than those of sol–gel prepared ones.