Tuning the conductivity and magnetism of silicon coated multiferroic GaFeO₃ nanoparticles

This article presented studies on structural, magnetic, and electrical properties of SiO₂ coated GaFeO₃ (GaFeO₃SiO₂) nanoparticles. A standard core-shell technique was used for the synthesis of GaFeO₃@SiO₂ nanoparticles. The X-Ray diffraction confirmed that both samples are pure phase with orthorhombic crystal symmetry that belongs to Pc2₁n space group. Further structural analysis indicates that SiO₂ coating has anisotropically compressed the lattice of GaFeO₃ nanoparticles. The coating of amorphous SiO₂ layer has been confirmed from the TEM results. It is also found that the magnetic properties slightly reduced with SiO₂ coating, which confirm the non-magnetic nature of SiO₂. More importantly, the SiO₂ layer suppresses the leakage current and AC conductivity of GaFeO₃. Such improved electrical behavior can be related to the accumulation of charges at the core–shell interface. These results demonstrate that the core–shell technique is a promising alternative to improve the electrical properties of multiferroic GaFeO₃. [Figure not available: see fulltext.]