Crystal structure and Mössbauer effect in multiferroic 0.5BiFeO₃-0.5Pb(Fe_0.5Ta_0.5)O₃ solid solution

Multiferroic 0.5BiFeO₃-0.5Pb(Fe_0.5Ta_0.5)O₃ solid solution is a material that exhibits ferroelectric and antiferromagnetic orderings in ambient temperature. The solid solution was obtained as a result of a conventional reaction in a solid state. The obtained material is a dense, fine-grained sinter whose surface was observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and stoichiometry was confirmed by energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopic (EDS) analysis. According to the X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) measurements, the main phase is R3c space group with admixture of Pm-3m regular phase. Small contribution of pyrochlore-like phase was also observed. Mössbauer spectroscopy suggested random distribution of Fe³⁺/Ta⁵⁺ cations in the B sites of ABO₃ compound. Reduction of the magnetic hyperfine field with an increase in the substitution of Ta⁵⁺ in Fe³⁺ neighbourhood was also observed.