The synthesis and characterization of sol-gel-derived SrTiO₃-BiMnO₃ solid solutions

In this study, the aqueous sol-gel method was employed for the synthesis of (1−x)SrTiO₃-xBiMnO₃ solid solutions. Powder X-ray diffraction analysis confirmed the formation of single-phase perovskites with a cubic structure up to x = 0.3. A further increase of the BiMnO3 content led to the formation of a negligible amount of neighboring Mn₃O₄ impurity, along with the major perovskite phase. Infrared (FT-IR) analysis of the synthesized specimens showed gradual spectral change associated with the superposition effect of Mn-O and Ti-O bond lengths. By introducing BiMnO₃ into the SrTiO₃ crystal structure, the size of the grains increased drastically, which was confirmed by means of scanning electron microscopy. Magnetization studies revealed that all solid solutions containing the BiMnO₃ component can be characterized as paramagnetic materials. It was observed that magnetization values clearly correlate with the chemical composition of powders, and the gradual increase of the BiMnO₃ content resulted in noticeably higher magnetization values.