Bismuth Ferrite The potential of future electronic memory devices are at its twilight of booming into a new set

of generation of memory chips. Instead of having the memory devices of which are as big as tens of nanometer, which is what our today technologys

advanced system offers, comes a memory device shrinking to one or two nanometer. If only one can synthesize a way to gasp into his hands the controls of how to separate those regions that have different electric, magnetic and other properties this

would be possible. Bismuth ferrite is a compound of bismuth, iron and oxygen BiFeO3. This compound was discovered to have domain walls never

been seen by scientists of the department of energy at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory of the University of California. Even though Bismuth ferrite was originally know as an insulator, this compound was discovered to have different electrical

polarity that conducts electricity at room temperature. In this review, I will focus primarily on the synthesis, physical and chemical properties, industry use and its effect upon disposal to the environment of Bismuth Ferrite.

Chemical and physical properties Bismuth ferrite, being an inorganic chemical compound, has perovskite structure ( in which planes of heavy atoms, bismuth for this compound, and oxygen alternates with planes of lighter atoms, Iron for this compound, and oxygen atoms) and is said to be one of the most promising multiferroic materials that

exhibits multiferroic properties at room temperature. At room temperature, BiFeO3 is classified as rhombohedral that belongs to group R3c. It is synthesize in thin film and in bulk and it temperaturesantiferrmagnetic Neel and ferroelectric Curieare

well above room temperature (653 K nd 1100 K, respectively). Its polarization occurs with a magnitude of 90-95 C/cm2 along the pseudocubic 111 direction. Its walls are oriented along two

different crystallographic planes, meaning it can be separated with 109-degree, 71-degree, or 180-degree differences in the

direction of the polarization. Bismuth ferrite films contains ferroelectric sphere that is between 5 to 10 micrometers. It exhibits week magnetism at room temperature because of the

spiral magnetic spin cycloid with a periodicity of 62 nm.

Synthesis/preparation of Bismuth ferrite In synthesizing this promising alloy, many ways were

developed. The following are just some of the ways on how to produce Bismuth ferrite: SOL-GEL TECHNIQUE A 2:1 ratio of bismuth and iron and was prepared from the The

starting excess

materials is

bismuth used to

nitrate

ferric the

chloride.

bismuth

compensate

bismuth

evaporated

during high temperature annealing. Bismuth nitrate and ferric chloride ethylene were dissolved that in acetic as a acid and was added with to

glycol

served

drying

control

agent

restrict cracking of the thin films before coat spinning. The solution was them refluxed for 5 hour. Figure 1. Flow chart of the synthesis of BiFeO3 . The precursor was coated on

copper substrate at 3000 rpm for 30 seconds while spinning after it was cooled For down to room temperature. process was Figure 1

thicker

film,

the

repeated. After the process, the film was kept exposed for 1 hour for gel film to form via hydrolysis and polymerization. The film was dried via heat treatment at a temperature of 300o C for 2 hours. The Crystallization, densification and microstructure of the films were then examined. SUPERFACTANT ASSISTED AUTOCOMBUSTION SYNTHESIS Bismuth synthesized ferrite by a powder was

solution

evaporation route. A 0.25 M Bi(NO3)3 and a 0.25 M Fe(NO3)3 was prepared by dissolving it in dilute nitric acid. The two solutions were mixed in a beaker. A 0.1 mole ratio of glycine was added to the solution above with respect to nitrate. The supernatants Triton X, and ALS (ammonium lauryl sulfate) were added to the solution with a mole ratio of 0.05 Figure 2

with respect to the metals. The solution was then heated on a hot plate with continuous stirring until it reaches its boiling temperature such time that all liquid have already evaporated. A brown fume that evolves during the process was obtained at the bottom of the beaker. The powder was than calcined at 500oC and

550oC. the crystalline size of the powder was then computed using the Scherrer formula. Figure 2. Flow chart of supernatant assisted autocombustion synthesis. SUPER CRITICAL HYDROTHERMAL SYNTHESIS The equal mole was amount (0.003 mol) Then, of Bi(NO3)35H2O and and

Fe(NO3)3.9H2O

weighted.

Bi(NO3)3.5H2O

Fe(NO3)3.9H2O was dissolved in 250 ml deionized water and was heated until homogenized. It was than transferred to a reactor vessel. A stainless steel 316 with 180 mL volume bath type

reactor was used and was heated using an electrical heater. The hydrothermal reaction was performed in the reactor

vessel at 500o C for 2 hours. After then, the reactor vessel was reduced to stop the reaction with cold water so that the product will be collected through washing the reactor with deionized water and cetrifugate to remove the reagent that didnt reacted. Then the BiFeO nanoparticles were dreid at 40o C for 24 hours. The identity of the synthesized nanoparticled was then Xrayed for diffraction measurements. The size and the shape of the obtained nanoparticled was then studied using transmission electron microscopy.

Important use in the industry In the past studies, bismuth ferrite has proven itself for its effective and applications to the industry. Bismuth ferrite was used as high tech magnetic tapes, used for its superconductivity, used in environmental engineering; and finally, is used to enhance spontaneous magnetization. But for this review, I will focus on the new discovered application of bismuth ferrite--nanoscale shape-memory oxide. Bismuth ferrite is a compound of bismuth, iron and oxygen. This multiferroic compound has been studied thoroughly in recent years by many scientists. As bismuth ferrite, being a multiferroic alloy, displays both ferromagnetic and ferroelectric properties, meaning it responds to applications of magnetic field or external electric. In this latest study by the scientists of the University of California in Berkley they were able to introduce an elastic-like phase transition into bismuth ferrite by means of electric field. Bismuth ferrite's application to the electric field allowed them to develop a phase transformation to be achieve that is reversible even without assistance of an external stress recovery said Ramesh of the University of California in Berkley.

This new discovery of the shape-memory alloys claimed to be the champion for elasticity and is primed to take over the shape memory apps to a whole new level---which is shrinking it to nanoscale. Researchers in Berkley laboratory have discovered a way to introduce recoverable strain into bismuth ferrite up to 14%. This is larger than any shape-memory effect observed in any metals for now. This discovery opens new door to for the application of many fields such as that in medical, energy, and specially electronics. According to Jinxing Zhang this bismuth ferrite they newly developed displays amazing features including being stable even when reduced to nanometer compared to other shape-memory alloys. One more feature is that its responses are fast due the electrical field needed to activate shape-memory alloy rather than the primitive way of using thermal fields. A shape-memory effect is when a solid material grows back to its original shape after being deformed after stress is applied is an ability of a metal to be elastic. In the past, this has always been involved with heating. Nickel-titanium or "nitinol alloy is a shape-memory alloy that has a great use to those that are in the field of medicine. It is used intents for angioplasty and in medical joints. This memory effect of alloy

has also have a great impact for non-medical fields. An example is the actuators in smart materials and in MicroelectroMechanical Systems (MEMS). But as scientist try to achieve nanoscale size of this shape-memory alloys, various problems and instabilities arises such as micro-cracking and oxidation. But with the new study on bismuth ferrite, scientists of Berkley Lab's materials Sciences Division of the University of California in Berkley were able to eliminate surface issues and were able to integrate it with microelectronics by achieving shape-memory effect to an oxide material rather than in alloy metals. According to Zhang, this bismuth ferrite they developed has "ultra-high work function density during actuation that is almost two orders of magnitude higher than what a metal alloy can generate." Ramesh also added that even though aspects like hysteresis, micro-cracking and so many more needs to be accounted when it will be applied to real devices, the discovery of bismuth ferrite being able to show large shape-memory effect only shows that it is not an ordinary material. This alloy has great potentials that it can be use in the future in nanoelectromechanical devices and other state-of-the-art nanosystems.

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Physicists observe new magnetic state of bismuth ferrite (n.d.). In Phys.org. Retrieved December 20, 2013, from http://phys.org/news/2013-05-physicists-magnetic-state-bismuthferrite.html#inlRlv

Remembrances of Things Past: Berkeley Lab Researchers Discover Nanoscale Shape-Memory Oxide (n.d.). In Hispanicbusiness. Retrieved December 20, 2013, from http://www.hispanicbusiness.com/2013/12/3/remembrances_of_things _past_berkeley_lab.htm

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Haneberg, D. H. (2011). A Finite-Size Study on SamariumSubstituted Bismuth Ferrite: Multiferroic and Lead-Free Piezoelectric Materials. Abstract retrieved from NTNU.

Shurygina V.Yu., Zhereb V.P., Skorikov V.M. (2013). MECHANISM OF SOLID STATE SYNTHESIS OF BISMUTH FERRITE BI25FEO39. Abstract from Digital scientific journal

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Bismuth ferrite nanoparticles formation via a supercritical hydrothermal synthesis method (2012) by J. Karimi, A., and Golzary, C

Synthesis and Properties of Bismuth Ferrite Multiferroic Nanoflowers (2000s) by Chybczynska, K., awniczak, P.,

Hilczer, B., eska, B., Pankiewicz, R., Pietraszko, A., Kepinski, L., Kauski, T., Cieluch, P., Matelski F., and Andrzejewski, B.