Low‐Temperature Synthesis of Nanosized Bismuth Ferrite by Soft Chemical Route

The present research describes a simple low‐temperature synthesis route of preparing bismuth ferrite nanopowders through soft chemical route using nitrates of Bismuth and Iron. Tartaric acid is used as a template material and nitric acid as an oxidizing agent. The synthesized powders are characterized by X‐ray diffractometry, thermogravimetry and differential thermal analysis, infrared spectroscopy, and scanning electron microscopy. The particle size of the powder lies between 3 and 16 nm. In the process, phase pure bismuth ferrite can be obtained at a temperature as low as 400°C, in contrast to 550°C for coprecipitation route. On the other hand, we find that, like solid state reaction route, Pechini's autocombustion method of synthesis generates a lot of impurity phases along with bismuth ferrite.