Electrical properties of stoichiometric BiFeO3 prepared by mechanosynthesis with either conventional or spark plasma sintering

Phase-pure powders of stoichiometric BiFeO3 have been prepared by mechanosynthesis. Ceramics sintered by either conventional heating in air or spark plasma sintering (SPS) followed by oxidative anneal in air are highly insulating with conductivity e.g. ~10–6 Scm–1 at 300 °C and activation energy 1.15(2) eV, which are comparable to those of a good-quality BiFeO3 single crystal. By contrast, the as-prepared SPS sample without the post-sinter anneal shows higher conductivity e.g. ~10–6 Scm–1 at 225 °C and lower activation energy 0.67(3) eV, indicating some reduction of the sample by the SPS process. The reason for the high conductivity observed in some ceramic samples reported in the literature appears to be unclear at present