Processing and properties of Yb-doped BiFeO₃ceramics

Abstract

The authors prepared Yb-doped bismuth iron oxide ceramics (Bi[sub 1−x]Yb[sub x]FeO₃, with 0 ≤ x ≤ 0.20) by rapid liquid phase sintering method and investigated the material’s structures and electrical properties. The x-ray diffraction measurements showed that the doping of Yb has induced noticeable lattice distortion in the ceramics, and a largest distortion was observed when the concentration of Yb was 15%. By doping electrical resistivity, ferroelectric and dielectric properties of the ceramics were improved. Among all samples, BiFeO₃doped with 15% Yb was found to have the smallest leakage current density (<10⁻⁷ A/cm²) and the largest remnant polarization (8.5 μC/cm²).