Investigating the structural, morphological, dielectric and electric properties of the multiferroic (La0.8Ca0.2)0.9Bi0.1FeO3 material

The (La0.8Ca0.2)0.9Bi0.1FeO3 (LCBFO) compound has been synthesized by the sol-gel method and characterized by X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), Raman spectroscopy and electrical impedance spectrometry. XRD results revealed that (La0.8Ca0.2)0.9Bi0.1FeO3 crystals are orthorhombic, belonging to the Pnma space group. The SEM measurements showed that the sample presents a large distribution of nano-grains connected to each other. The relaxation process and the electrical conductivity are awarded to the same type of charge carriers characterized by similar values of the activation energy determined from loss factor tangent tg δ( ), the imaginary part of the permittivity and from the Modulus spectrum. The ac-conductivity was analysed to examine the conduction mechanism, using the Jonscher’s universal power-law given by: = +σ ω σ Aω( )ac dc s. Based on the parameter s behavior, the conductivity was studied according to the NSPT model (non-overlapping small polaron tunneling).publishe

Impact of the pulling rate on the redox state and magnetic domains of Fe-Si-O glass ceramic processed by LFZ method

This work studies the effect of the pulling rate, varying from 100 to 400 mm/h, on the redox state, structure and magnetic properties of iron oxide bearing silica glasses processed by laser floating zone (LFZ) method. XRD analysis revealed that the maximum crystallinity is obtained in the fibre grown at the lowest pulling rate. A detailed Raman analysis demonstrated that the global content of Fe2+ increases with pulling rate, while the growth under a lower pulling rate promotes the α-Fe2O3 crystallization. Atomic/magnetic force microscopy provided further evidence of phase-separated iron oxide crystallites formation with a high Fe2+/Ftotal ratio as the pulling rate increases. The magnetic measurements performed over a wide temperature range showed that the highest magnetization is found in the fibre grown at the highest pulling rate. A strong correlation between structural-topographical features and the magnetic characteristics of the glass fibres is substantiated.publishe