RT Journal Article T1 Single phase, electrically insulating, multiferroic La-substituted BiFeO3 prepared by mechanosynthesis A1 Perejón, Antonio A1 Sánchez-Jiménez, Pedro A1 Pérez-Maqueda, Luis A1 Criado, José A1 Romero de Paz, Julio A1 Sáez Puche, Regino A1 Masó, Nahum A1 West, Anthony AB Single phase, electrically insulating samples of Bi1-xLaxFeO3 solid solutions have been prepared by mechanosynthesis over the whole compositional range for the first time. Lanthanum substitution influenced the kinetics of the mechanochemical reaction and crystallite size of the products. For 0 <= x <= 0.15, an increase in the La content produced a significant decrease in the weight-normalized cumulative kinetic energy required to obtain the final product and an increase in the resulting crystallite size. Larger La contents did not affect either the reactivity or the crystallite size. The effect of x on the structure has been identified. Samples in the ranges x <= 0.15 and x >= 0.45 gave single phase solid solutions with R3c and Pnma space groups, respectively, while for the intermediate range, a non-centrosymetric Pn2(1)a(00 gamma)s00 super structure was obtained. For 0 <= x <= 0.30, differential scanning calorimetry showed two endothermic effects corresponding to the Neel temperature (T-N, antiferromagnetic-paramagnetic transition) and the Curie temperature (T-C, ferroelectric-paraelectric transition), demonstrating their multiferroic character. Compositions with a larger La content only showed T-N. Dilatometric and permittivity measurements confirmed the results obtained by DSC for the ferroelectric-paraelectric transition. The composition dependence of T-N and T-C showed that, at low x, T-N < T-C, but a cross-over, or isoferroic transition occurred at x similar to 0.28, when T-N = T-C = 386 degrees C. Ceramics with 0 <= x <= 0.15 were highly insulating at room temperature with a resistivity, extrapolated from the Arrhenius plots, of similar to 7 x 10(16) to 8 x 10(14) Omega cm and an activation energy similar to 1.14-1.20 eV. Magnetization of the samples improved with La substitution. PB Royal Society of Chemistry SN 2050-7526 YR 2014 FD 2014 LK https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/99289 UL https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/99289 LA eng NO Ministerio de Economía y ́Competitividad (España) NO Junta de Andalucía DS Docta Complutense RD 8 abr 2025