Raman investigation of multiferroic BiFeO₃ and Bi₁₋ₓSmₓFeO₃ materials synthesized by the sol-gel method

Abstract

The current work presents the investigation results of multiferroic materials (BiFeO₃ and Bi₁₋ₓSmₓFeO₃) with perovskite structure, which possesses two types of orderings: ferromagnetic and ferroelectric. Also, the obtained samples were investigated by Raman spectroscopy to provide detailed information about chemical structure, phase purity and polymorphism, crystallinity and molecular interactions. To enhance the magnetoelectric interaction of bismuth ferrite samples, Bi cations were substituted by isovalent Sm cations with the formation of systems with the general formula Bi₁₋ₓSmₓFeO₃, where х = 7.0; 10.0; 20.0 and 25.0. The interest was to study the features of the formation of ferromagnetic composites both in the form of powders and in the form of films on a silicon substrate, as well as to explore the effect of the formation method on their magnetoelectric properties.