Nonstoichiometric Effects in the Leakage Current and Electrical Properties of Bismuth Ferrite Ceramics

To understand the defect chemistry of multiferroic BiFeO3-based systems, we synthesized nonstoichiometric Bi1+xFeO3±δ ceramics by conventional solid-state reaction method and studied their structural, dielectric and high-temperature charge transport properties. Incorporation of an excess amount of Bi2O3 lowered the Bi deficiency in BiFeO3. Polarization versus electric field (P-E) hysteresis loop and dielectric properties were found to be...