Facile and rapid synthesis of multiferroic TbMnO3 single crystalline

• Pure orthorhombic phase TbMnO3 was synthesized at low temperature in a short time.
• Single crystals with regular shapes and uniform morphology were obtained.
• The as-prepared powders exhibit antiferromagnetism.

The pure single phase of multiferroic material TbMnO3 powders were successfully synthesized by one-step molten salt synthesis (MSS) method in the NaCl–Na2SO4 eutectic salts at the temperature as low as 800 °C for 1 h. The temperature of synthesized high purity TbMnO3 is limited in a very narrow range. Prolonging the sintering time will not have an effect on the purity of samples, and either lower or higher salt concentration is not conducive to form pure TbMnO3. The obtained TbMnO3 was indexed to an orthorhombically distorted perovskite phase. The as-prepared crystals exhibit uniform and regular rhombic-like morphology with an average size of about 2 μm in edge length and 1–2 μm in thickness. The elements Mn and Tb in TbMnO3 exist dominantly as Mn3+ and Tb3+, respectively. The magnetic measurements of the TbMnO3 powders exhibit antiferromagnetism. Because of the simplicity and generalizability of the MSS method, it is reasonable to expect that the MSS method could also be exploited in future works which involves the nanoscale investigation of ferroelectric, ferromagnetic and multiferroic materials.

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