Compositional dependence of ferromagnetic and magnetoelectric effect properties in BaTiO3-BiFeO3-LaFeO3 solid solutionsElectronic supplementary information (ESI) available. See DOI: 10.1039/c7ra10563k

• Main Authors: Qi, Xiwei, Zhang, Min, Zhang, Xiaoyan, Gu, Yaohang, Zhu, Hongen, Yang, Weicheng, Li, Ying
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 07-11-2017
• ISSN: 2046-2069
• DOI: 10.1039/c7ra10563k

Multiferroic ceramics consisting of barium titanate (BaTiO
3
, BT), bismuth ferrite (BiFeO
3
, BFO), and lanthanum ferrite (LaFeO
3
, LFO), namely (1 −
x
)(0.96BaTiO
3
-0.04BiFeO
3
)-
x
LaFeO
3
(BT-BFO-
x
LFO, where
x
= 0.1-0.5), were synthesized by the sol-gel method. The crystal structure, microstructure, and dielectric, ferromagnetic, and magnetoelectric properties of the ceramics were systematically investigated. Structural analysis of BT-BFO-
x
LFO solid solution showed a pure perovskite structure. The Rietveld refined XRD data fitted well with an orthorhombic structure (
Pbnm
space group). BT-BFO-0.4LFO and BT-BFO-0.5LFO exhibited initial dielectric constants of 2114 and 1741, respectively, at 20 Hz, followed by fast decay with increasing frequency. In comparison, the BT-BFO-
x
LFO ceramics with
x
= 0.1-0.3 showed excellent stability. Remarkably improved ferromagnetic properties were obtained for BT-BFO-0.4LFO, and the remnant magnetization increased from 0.008 to 0.666 emu g
−1
when
x
was increased from 0.1 to 0.4. The maximum value of the magnetoelectric coefficient reached 354 mV (cm
−1
·Oe
−1
) for the ceramic with
x
= 0.4 at 1000 kHz and 1 kOe.
The maximum value of the magnetoelectric coefficient reached 354 mV (cm
−1
Oe
−1
) for the ceramic with
x
= 0.4.