Self-assembled growth of BiFeO3 meso-octahedral particles synthesized by a facile surfactant-free hydrothermal method

Abstract Meso-scale BiFeO 3 octahedral particles were synthesized by a hydrothermal method through modulating KOH concentration in the precursor solution. The morphologies of BiFeO 3 particles were observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), displaying a morphological transformation from sphere to regular octahedron with the increase of KOH concentration. The time-dependent particle growth was also studied by SEM and the final products, octahedral BiFeO 3 particles, were characterized by electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) for understanding the crystalline growth. EBSD results show that the rhombohedral BiFeO 3 octahedron is covered by eight crystal plane (001) hex , which is different from the previous report. The possible mechanism of crystal growth is discussed.