Optical properties of Y and Ti co-substituted BiFeO3 multiferroics

Pure and co substituted Bi1−xYxFe1−xTixO3 (x ≤ 0.24) ceramics were synthesized by solid state reaction method. X-ray diffraction patterns of Y and Ti codoped samples have shown single phase formation. Increasing Y and Ti concentration reveals structural transition from rhombohedral phase (R3c) for x ≤ 0.16 to orthorhombic phase (Pnma) for x = 0.24. FT-IR spectra exhibit broad absorption bands, which may be due to the overlapping of Fe-O and Bi-O vibrations. UV-visible spectroscopy results show strong absorption of light in the spectral range of 400-720 nm, indicating optical band gap in the visible region for these samples. These interesting optical properties of co-substituted BFO samples in visible region may find potential applications in optoelectronic devices