SYNTHESIS AT LOW TEMPERATURES AND STUDY OF THE

PHOTOVOLTAIC EFFECT IN NANOPARTICLES OF BIFEO3

Zait Ayala Capra1, Héctor Loro Ramírez1, Manuel Hernández Alcantara2, Daygord
Mendoza Rojas1, Carmen Eyzaguirre Gorvenia1

1
National Engineering University
2
National Autonomous University of Mexico

ABSTRACCT
In the present work, Bismuth Ferrite (BiFeO3) powders, semiconductor with perovskite
structure and R3c space group, were synthesized in order to reproduce the photovoltaic
effect in a multiferroic material. The synthesis was carried out by means of the
combustion method using urea and glycine as a promoter.
The material was analyzed at different heat treatment temperatures, obtaining as the best
result for a heat treatment at 500 °C. Through characterization by DRX, it was found
that the pure BiFeO3 phase was obtained; by UV-Visible spectroscopy, it was found that
the band gap of the material is 2.14 eV, where it is observed that it absorbs over a wide
range of wavelengths of the solar spectrum; through EDS, the presence of all the
elements that compose it Bi, Fe and O were found; by SEM, microscopic images of the
material were obtained, which have a growth with circular and hexagonal grains; by
TEM, it is a further test that BiFeO3 nanoparticles with interplanar distances of 4.35 nm
have been obtained; Raman spectroscopy showed that overtones appear in 2
fundamental ways (E8 and E9). These overtones were only observed using the 2.33 eV
laser (λ = 532 nm) and confirm the presence of the energy gap, determined by means of
electronic absorption in the diffuse reflectance mode; The measurement of resistivity
and electrical conductivity were carried out by the van der Pauw technique (four pointed
method) obtaining as a result a resistivity of ρ = 0.486 × 106 Ω.cm, and a conductivity of
σ = 2.06x10-6 S/cm. Finally, the photovoltaic effect was measured by acquiring the
current-intensity characteristics under a laser illumination with a wavelength of 405 nm
(hυ = 3.06 eV) and an average power intensity of 40 mW/cm 2, generating a current of
0.2 ηA.
In this direction, bismuth ferrite has shown great potential since a great effect of
photocurrent and prohibited band is observed.

Keywords: BiFeO3 nanoparticles, band banned (band gap), resistivity, photovoltaic effect.

Bibliography:

[1] José Luis Ortiz Quiñones, David Dias, Inti Zumeta-Dubé, Humberto Arriola Santamaría: Easy synthesis of high-purity BiFeO3
nanoparticles: New insights derived from the structural, optical, and magnetic characterization. Paper published on august 22, 2013.

[2] John R. Ferraro, Kazuo Nakamoto and Chris W. Brown. Introductory Raman

Spectroscopy; 2 ed., Elsevier (2003). pp. 16.

[3] Subhajit Nandy, Pavana S. V. Mocherla, C. Sudakar: Photoconductivity induced by nanoparticle segregated grain-boundary is
spark plasma sintered BiFeO3. Paper published online May 22, 2017.