Correlation between Ionic Radius of Substituting Element and Magnetic Properties of Bi1-xAxFeO3-x/2 (A= Ca, Sr, Pb, Ba) Multiferroics

Investigation of crystal structure and magnetic properties of the diamagnetically- substituted Bi1-xAxFeO3-x/2 (A= Ca, Sr, Pb, Ba; x= 0.2, 0.3) polycrystalline samples has been carried out. It has been shown that the heterovalent A2+ substitution result in the formation of oxygen vacancies in the host lattice. The solid solutions have been found to possess a rhombohedrally distorted perovskite structure described by the space group R3c. Magnetization measurements have shown that the magnetic state of these compounds is determined by the ionic radius of the substituting elements. A-site substitution with the biggest ionic radius ions has been found to suppress the spiral spin structure of BiFeO3 giving rise to the appearance of weak ferromagnetism.