Journal of the American Ceramic Society, Vol.96, No.12, 3920-3925, 2013
Inhomogeneous Structure and Magnetic Properties of Aurivillius Ceramics Bi4Bin-3Ti3Fen-3O3n+3
Structures of Aurivillius ceramics Bi4Bin-3Ti3Fen-3O3n+3 with n=3-9 have been investigated by X-ray powder diffraction and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. The Aurivillius ceramics Bi4Bin-3Ti3Fen-3O3n+3 with n=3-5 exhibit homogeneous layered structure. However, the ceramic samples with n=6-9 are composed of mixed Aurivillius phases with different layer numbers, in which the stacking faults of the disordered intergrowth of different n-layered perovskite blocks and the so-called side-stepping of the (Bi2O2)(2+) layers are generally observed. Magnetic measurements indicate that Fe cations couple antiferromagnetically and the inhomogeneity of composition exists in the samples. The magnetic properties are obviously influenced by the inhomogeneous structure and composition.