Engineering and analysing the super exchange interaction of Fe3+- O2− - V5+ on novel multiferroic BiFeO3/BiVO4 nanocomposite

Herein, we report an interesting magnetic interaction taking place between the Scheelite structured Bismuth Vanadate (BiVO4) and Perovskite structured Bismuth Ferrite (BiFeO3) nanomaterials. The structural tilt in the Fe/V–O6 octahedral site was analysed using Rietveld refinement data. The tilt in bond angle, explains the magnetic contribution of the Fe–O–V interaction because the nanocomposite shows a significant increase in their coercivity and retentivity values. The coercivity value was found to be six times greater than the pristine material. Finally, the resulting weak ferromagnetic behaviour in BiFeO3/BiVO4 by means of Fe–O–V interaction was examined using the first-order derivative (dM/dH) of M − H data. These results suggest that the material can be used for magnetic applications. [Display omitted] •A promising Fe3+-O2--V5+ interaction was engineered using BiFeO3/BiVO4 nanocomposite.•The structural distortions in the octahedral environment (Fe/V–O6) were analysed using Rietveld refinement software.•The occurrence of multiple magnetic domains in BiFeO3/BiVO4 nanocomposite was analzyed through VSM.•A stable Fe/V–O6 interaction creates a high coercivity and retentivity in the BiFeO3/BiVO4 nanocomposite.