Tailoring the magnetic and optical characteristics of BiFeO3 ceramics by doping with La and Co

•Single-phase Bi0.95La0.05Fe1-xCoxO3 ceramics with x=0.0, 0.1, and 0.2 were synthesized.•The co-substitution altered the original magnetic structure of BiFeO3•Collinear magnetic ordering in co-doped BiFeO3 coexists with ferromagnetism at room temperature.•Small band gap of co-doped BiFeO3 may be useful for optoelectronic devices.

Single-phase Bi0.95La0.05Fe1-xCoxO3 ceramics with x=0, 0.1, and 0.2 were prepared by high pressure synthesis. X-ray diffraction patterns demonstrated rhombohedral structure for all samples. Ferroelectric transition temperature was found to decrease with increasing cobalt content. La and Co co-doping favors weak ferromagnetism ordering with evident magnetic hysteresis loop and enhances magnetization values at room temperature, which is attributed to the change in the spin structure from a cycloidal space modulated spin structure to a collinear G-type antiferromagnetic structure. Optical properties of the samples, as studied by diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, showed low optical band gap that decreases with increasing cobalt content, which provides potential applications in photocatalytic activity and optoelectronic devices.