Low-temperature synthesis of BiFeO3 nanoparticles by ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid complexing sol–gel process

Abstract This paper reported a novel approach to synthesize pure BiFeO 3 nanoparticles through an ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid complexing sol–gel process at low temperature. The pure BiFeO 3 nanoparticles were attained at much lower temperature as 600 °C by this process, in contrast to above 800 °C for the traditional solid-state sintering process. The SEM results showed that the prepared BiFeO 3 nanoparticles had a better homogeneity and fine grain morphology. The BiFeO 3 nanoparticles show a weak ferromagnetic order at room temperature, which is quite different from the linear M – H relationship in bulk BiFeO 3 . The origin of the weak magnetic property in our samples should be attributed to the size-confinement effects of the BiFeO 3 nanostructures.