Mechanosynthesis of the Whole Y<sub>1−x</sub>Bi<sub>x</sub>Mn<sub>1−x</sub>Fe<sub>x</sub>O<sub>3</sub> Perovskite System: Structural Characterization and Study of Phase Transitions

oleh: Jose Ángel Quintana-Cilleruelo, Vignaswaran K. Veerapandiyan, Marco Deluca, Miguel Algueró, Alicia Castro

Format: Article
Diterbitkan: MDPI AG 2019-05-01

Deskripsi

Perovskite BiFeO<sub>3</sub> and YMnO<sub>3</sub> are both multiferroic materials with distinctive magnetoelectric coupling phenomena. Owing to this, the Y<sub>1&#8722;x</sub>Bi<sub>x</sub> Mn<sub>1&#8722;x</sub>Fe<sub>x</sub>O<sub>3</sub> solid solution seems to be a promising system, though poorly studied. This is due to the metastable nature of the orthorhombic perovskite phase of YMnO<sub>3</sub> at ambient pressure, and to the complexity of obtaining pure rhombohedral phases for BiFeO<sub>3</sub>-rich compositions. In this work, nanocrystalline powders across the whole perovskite system were prepared for the first time by mechanosynthesis in a high-energy planetary mill, avoiding high pressure and temperature routes. Thermal decomposition temperatures were determined, and structural characterization was carried out by X-ray powder diffraction and Raman spectroscopy on thermally treated samples of enhanced crystallinity. Two polymorphic phases with orthorhombic Pnma and rhombohedral R3c h symmetries, and their coexistence over a wide compositional range were found. A gradual evolution of the lattice parameters with the composition was revealed for both phases, which suggests the existence of two continuous solid solutions. Following bibliographic data for BiFeO<sub>3</sub>, first order ferroic phase transitions were located by differential thermal analysis in compositions with x &#8805; 0.9. Furthermore, an orthorhombic-rhombohedral structural evolution across the ferroelectric transition was characterized with temperature-dependent X-ray diffraction.