The influence of Nd substitution on microstructural, magnetic, and microwave absorption properties of BiFeO3 nanopowders

Abstract This paper investigated the influence of Nd substitution on the microstructure, element valences, magnetic characteristics, and microwave absorption performances of Bi1–xNdxFeO3 (x = 0.0, 0.05, 0.10, 0.15) nanopowders prepared via the sol-gel technique. The crystal structure of the nanopowders transformed from a twisted rhombohedral (R3c) for x≤ 0.10 to cubic ( Pm 3 ¯ m ) for x = 0.15. When Nd substitution increased, the particle size gradually decreased and the surface morphology became uniform. Analysis of the results illustrate that Nd substitution can reduce the content of oxygen vacancies and effectively enhance magnetic performance. The results show that an appropriate amount of Nd doping can effectively enhance the microwave absorption performance of the Bi1–xNdxFeO3 nanopowders. The sample with x = 0.10 demonstrates exceptionally good microwave absorption characteristics (RLmin value of approximately –33.7 dB at 12.1 GHz and the maximum effective bandwidth of 2.8 GHz at 2.0 mm). Therefore, the Bi1–xNdxFeO3 nanopowders have various potential applications due to outstanding microwave absorption performance and wide bandwidth.