Novel multiferroic Bi2Fe4O9 nanoparticles: the interesting optical, photocatalytic, and multiferroic properties

The single-crystalline multiferroic Bi2Fe4O9 nanoparticle has been synthesized using glycine combustion method. The size of the Bi2Fe4O9 particle increases from 50 nm to 800 nm with increasing annealing temperature from 923 K to 1173 K. The microstructures of Bi2Fe4O9 nanocrystal were observed from transmission electron microscopy and selected area electron diffraction. Moreover, with increasing annealing temperature, the photocatalysis properties of Bi2Fe4O9 nanoparticles were greatly improved. The degradation rate of the methyl_orange solution of Bi2Fe4O9 nanoparticles was higher as 98%. The resistive switching properties of Bi2Fe4O9 nanoparticles were investigated via current-voltage measurements. Interestingly, a bistable resistive switching characteristic was achieved at ambient temperature, which exhibits a potential for next generation nonvolatile memory applications.