Synthesis, characterization, and mechanical properties of oxygen-deficient ferro-diamagnetic transitional barium iron oxide perovskite/polydimethylsiloxane composites

We studied the auto-combustion synthesis and fabrication of an oxygen-deficient perovskite-type barium iron oxide and polydimethylsiloxane (BaFeO3-δ/PDMS) composite and tested its feasibility as a magnetic composite. The perovskite was found to exhibit a polycrystalline nature with polymorphic structural distributions, an altered chemistry, and a completely unusual ferro-to-diamagnetic transitional property, as demonstrated by X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, and vibrating sample magnetometer studies, respectively. Field emission scanning electron microscopy results revealed that the PDMS completely encapsulated the BaFeO3-δ powder.