Effect of Pr/Ni Co-dopants on Surface Chemical Bonding States of BiFeO 3 Nanoparticles with Promising Magnetic and Photocatalytic Properties

Nanocrystalline particles of a bismuth ferrite (BiFO 3 , BFO) co-doped by praseodymium and cobalt, Bi 1− x Pr x Fe 1− x Co x O 3 ( x = 0.00, 0.02, 0.08), were synthesized using the modified sol–gel method in this study. X-ray diffraction (XRD) was used to assess the phase purity and crystallinity of the synthesized particles. The obtained XRD pattern matches perfectly with the standard Joint Committee on Powder Diffraction Standards (JCPDS) card number 71-2494. The synthesized nanoparticles maintain the rhombohedral symmetry in the R3c space group is also confirmed by XRD data. With several excitation wavelengths, to investigate the modes of vibration in doped nanoparticles, Raman scattering spectra for the wavelength range of around 532 nm were obtained. Doping enhances grain size, resulting in a large surface area for active sites, as seen by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) pictures. The spontaneous magnetization was found to be 0.278, 1.128 and 0.625 emu/g at an applied magnetic field of 30,000 G for praseodymium and cobalt doped BFO nanoparticles, (Bi 1− x Pr x Fe 1− x Co x O 3 ( x = 0.00, x = 0.02 and 0.08)).