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.