Tuning of the Structural, Optical and Magnetic Properties of BiFeO3 Nanoparticles by Annealing

High purity BiFeO
3
nanoparticles were synthesized via solgel process in this work. The effect of the annealing temperature on structural, optical and magnetic properties were studied. The X-ray diffraction analysis showed a distorted perovskite structure where phase purity could be tuned by varying annealing temperature. At higher temperatures, the particle size increased and the band gap decreased. Analysis of magnetic property revealed the presence of weak ferromagnetism in the BiFeO
3
nanoparticles. The study indicates that the functional properties of the nanoparticles could be tuned to accommodate both photovoltaic and photocatalytic applications.