Novel magnetic and ferroelectric behaviors observed in alpha Fe2O3 particles

Alpha Fe2O3 powders have been prepared by the reduction reaction method with NaHB4 as reducing agent and followed a conventional sintering process. The XRD pattern with Rietveld refinement profile reveal that the prepared Fe2O3 with corundum structure (hematite). VSM loop exhibits obvious room-temperature weak ferromagnetism, a pinched hysteresis loop may introduced by the shape anisotropy effect. The simultaneous ferroelectric behavior of {\alpha}-Fe2O3 with "five-fold" ferroelectric hysteresis loops approves that this structured Fe2O3 can be known as a novel multiferroic material.