Hydrothermal synthesis and characterization of perovskite bismuth ferrite powders

Single-phase BiFeO3 powders were synthesized via co-precipitation and hydrothermal process, by using FeCl3 center dot 6H(2)O and Fe(NO3)(3)center dot 9H(2)O as Fe resource and Bi(NO3)(3)center dot 5H(2)O as Bi resource, respectively, ammonia as precipitant and KOH as mineralizer. The phase structure, micro-morphology and bond vibration of as-prepared BiFeO3 powders were characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectrophotometer. The results showed that the hydrothermal reaction temperature for producing BiFeO3 powders was lower and the temperature range was broader when FeCl3 center dot 6H(2)O was used as Fe resource than those when Fe(NO3)(3)center dot 9H(2)O was used. The micro-morphology of prepared BiFeO3 powders was much affected by the type of Fe resource and the precursor concentration. The stretching and bending vibration of Fe-O bonds in the synthesized BiFeO3 powders detected by FT-IR indicates the presence of the octahedral FeO6 groups in the perovskite structure.