Electrical and magnetic properties of nanocrystalline BiFeO3 prepared by high energy ball milling and microwave sintering.

A new synthesis route with high energy ball milling and microwave sintering is used to obtain nanocrystalline BiFeO3 with improved dielectric and magnetic properties. Electrical and magnetic properties are compared with a conventionally sintered microcrystalline BiFeO3. It is found that the dielectric constant is increased more than one order of magnitude, electrical resistivity by six orders of magnitude and remnant polarization value is increased by 4-5 times for nanocrystalline BiFeO3 in comparison to conventionally sintered microcrystalline BiFeO3. Nanocrystalline BiFeO3 is seen to have ferromagnetic behavior whereas microcrystalline BiFeO3 is known to be antiferromagnetic.