Abstract

This work signifies the comparative study of physicochemical features of perovskite bismuth ferrite (P-BiFeO3) nanoparticles synthesized via the chemical coprecipitation and Azadirachta indica (neem)-mediated biogenic methods. The X-ray diffraction analysis of the P-BiFeO3 corroborates the biogenic (B-BFO) sample requires no non-stoichiometric compensation, whereas the chemical (C-BFO) sample experiences volatile bismuth nitrate compensation. The C-BFO and B-BFO samples exhibit bandgap values of 2.14 and 2.10 eV, respectively. The strong bonds related to P-BiFeO3 and the existence of alkanes and aldehydes of C–H bonds in the green-mediated sample were confirmed using FTIR spectroscopy. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy study confirms that the Bi and Fe elements exist in the 3+ valence state in the P-BiFeO3, which is of 3:3 perovskite type in both samples. The FESEM analysis of B-BFO and C-BFO samples reveals sporadic-spherical shape morphology. The B-BFO and C-BFO samples, in an applied magnetic field, at room temperature display weak ferromagnetism. The production of perovskite BiFeO3 via the biogenic approach will pave the way for next-level clean practical devices. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.