Comparative study on doping effects in Bi1−xDyxFe1−yMnyO3 nanoparticles fabricated by sol-gel technique

Abstract We have studied the optical, electrical and magnetic properties of Dy and Mn doped BiFeO 3 nanoparticle synthesized by the sol-gel technique. In the doped samples, a transition of crystal structure was demonstrated by XRD. With increasing x from 0.00 to 0.10 and y from 0.00 to 0.05, the optical band gap of Bi 1−x Dy x Fe 1−y Mn y O 3 nanoparticles decreases and can be interpreted by the decreased particle size and the increased internal stress of samples, which caused by Dy, Mn doping. According to the data from X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, the doping of Dy 3+ and Mn 2+ can availably restrain the transform from Fe 3+ to Fe 2+ . A small leakage current density and large value of saturation magnetization are observed for the co-doped samples. Therefore, the doping of (Dy, Mn) is an effective mean to strengthen the multiferroic behavior of the nanoparticles.