The Influence of La and Ho Substitution on Structural, Micro Structural and Magnetic Properties of Bifeo3 Nanopowders

In this work, Bi0.85-xLa0.15HoxFeO3 (BLHxFO) nanoparticles with varying x from 0 to 0.25 were successfully synthesized by a sol-gel method. The structural, microstructural and magnetic properties of BLHxFO nanoparticles have been investigated, using X-ray diffraction, field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and magnetometry measurements at room temperature. X-ray diffraction pattern of BLHxFO indicates a phase transition from rhombohedral (R3c space group) to orthorhombic for x > 0.1. The FE-SEM analysis show that the average nanoparticle size is about 50-100 nm and it decreases with Ho concentration. The magnetic properties including coercivity field (HC) and remanent magnetization (Mr) compared to BiFeO3. The improvement of magnetic properties may be attributed to structural phase transition by Ho substitution.