Low-temperature synthesis of BiFeO₃ nanoparticles by ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid complexing sol-gel process

This paper reported a novel approach to synthesize pure BiFeO₃ nanoparticles through an ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid complexing sol-gel process at low temperature. The pure BiFeO₃ nanoparticles were attained at much lower temperature as 600 °C by this process, in contrast to above 800 °C for the traditional solid-state sintering process. The SEM results showed that the prepared BiFeO₃ nanoparticles had a better homogeneity and fine grain morphology. The BiFeO₃ nanoparticles show a weak ferromagnetic order at room temperature, which is quite different from the linear M-H relationship in bulk BiFeO₃. The origin of the weak magnetic property in our samples should be attributed to the size-confinement effects of the BiFeO₃ nanostructures.