Physicochemical Investigation of Synthesized Bismuth and Silver-Doped Bismuth Nanoferrites, And Their Dielectric Properties

Abstract Bismuth nano ferrite and silver-doped bismuth nano ferrite are synthesized by the sol-gel method. The synthesized compound is characterized through several characterization methods such as the X-ray diffraction method, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and UV-Visible spectral studies. The X-Ray diffraction confirms bismuth nano ferrite has a Rhombohedral structure and belongs to the R-3m space group, and the silver-doped bismuth nano ferrite has an orthorhombic structure and belongs to the Cmcm space group. The crystallite size is calculated through Scherrer’s formula, the bismuth nano ferrite has a crystallite size of 20 nm, and the silver-doped bismuth nano ferrite has a crystallite size of 36.33 nm. FTIR studies confirm the formation of ferrite and indicate the metal ion group observed the peak shift after doping in the fingerprint region. The metal ion peaks are presented at 446.7 cm −1 and 527.8 cm −1 but after doping they shifted to 453 cm −1 , 534 cm −1 . The UV-Visible spectral analysis identifies the change in the energy band gap through a tauc plot, initially the energy band gap of bismuth nano ferrite is about 2.79 eV but after doping it reduces to 1.61 eV. the surface morphology is determined by SEM analysis and it provides 30 nm and for the doped compound 37 nm average particle size. Dielectric study confirms doping of silver to the bismuth gives more improved results which will be helpful at the application level such as in memory devices, photocatalysis, water splitting, and gas detection.