Magnetic and dielectric studies of Fe substituted sillenite phase bismuth cobaltite nanoparticles

(Bi13Co12)CoO40 (BCO) and (Bi13Co5.5Fe6.5)CoO40 (BCFO) nanoparticles are prepared by sol-gel auto combustion method. The X-ray diffraction study (XRD) reveals cubic crystal structure with space group I23. Surface scanning via atomic force microscopy shows the particle size decreases from 100 nm to 75 nm on partially substituting Fe at Co site. At room temperature, BCO is paramagnetic and shows signature of magnetic ordering at 30 K, which seems to be competing paramagnetic and antiferromagnetic behavior. No sign of magnetic disorder is seen, though indication of magnetic frustration is seen. Interestingly, the Fe substituted BCFO shows large magnetic disorder (even at room temperature) with strengthening ferromagnetic ordering as the temperature is lowered. The low temperature dielectric and magnetodielectric measurement shows dominance of extrinsic contributions, through-out the temperature range for BCO. For BCFO, the behavior may be divided under two regions viz., intrinsic (<260 K) and extrinsic (>260 K). Relaxation in both the regions is described by Arrhenius behavior with activation energies 0.25 eV and 0.04 eV in the extrinsic and intrinsic regions respectively. Most interestingly, the dielectric loss decreases by one order for Fe substituted sample. The Haverliak-Negami equation is found to better describe the observed relaxation data.