Selective Pure-Phase Synthesis of the Multiferroic BaMF₄ (M = Mg, Mn, Co, Ni, and Zn) Family

A low temperature, high yield hydrothermal route has been discovered for the phase-pure synthesis of the multiferroic BaMF(4) (M = Mg, Mn, Co, Ni, and Zn) family. The synthesis involves the use of CF(3)COOH instead of HF in an aqueous medium and, under the correct conditions, produces pure and polycrystalline BaMF(4). In addition to the synthetic description, second-harmonic generation, thermogravimetric, and differential scanning calorimetry data are presented.