Structural, magnetic and electric properties of Nd and Ni co-doped BiFeO3 materials

Multiferroic Bi1-xNdxFe0.975Ni0.025O3 (x = 0.00, 0.05, 0.10, 0.125, and 0.15) (BNFNO) and BiFeO3 (BFO) materials were synthesized by a sol-gel method. Crystal structure, ferromagnetic and ferroelectric properties of the as-synthesized materials were investigated. Results showed that Nd3+ and Ni2+ co-doping affected to the electrical leakage, enhanced ferroelectric polarization and magnetization of BiFeO3. Co-doped sample with 12.5 mol% of Nd3+ and 2.5 mol% of Ni2+ exhibited an enhancement in both ferromagnetism and ferroelectric properties up to M-S similar to 0.528 emu/g and PS similar to 18.35 mu C/cm(2) with applied electric field at 5 kV/cm, respectively. The origins of ferromagnetism and ferroelectricity enhancement were discussed in the paper.