Bismuth ferrite (BiFeO₃) is a type of perovskite oxide that can be both antiferromagnetic and ferroelectric at room temperature. This makes it good for sensing, electronics, spintronics, and catalysis. However, it is inherently difficult to control the shape and thickness of BiFeO₃ at the micro- and nanoscale with traditional liquid-phase methods resulting in clumping of the crystals. The vortex fluidic device (VFD) is a high-shear processing platform which can be used to make 2D material, for example, antimonene from micron size particles of the antimony.1
The VFD has a rapidly rotating tube which imparts high shear stress into the thin-film liquid, including water which is used in the present study.2 Large particles of BiFeO₃ particles suspended in water in the VFD can be transformed into different morphologies in a controlled way. We have investigated how changing the amount of solvent affects the size and shape of the particles and the stability of the dispersion.
After VFD treatment, structural analysis showed the presence of rhombohedral BiFeO₃ phase. Microscopy revealed the formation of thin sheets of BiFeO₃ that exhibited greater uniformity than the original material (Figure 1). This processing is without the need for surfactants and with the processing in water as a dissolution and recrystallisation process, which is high in green chemistry metrics.
Figure 1: Bismuth ferrite processing under VFD platform.
References