6 - Role of defects in multiferroic nanoparticles

Abstract

Recently, multiferroic materials have attracted much attention because they exhibit, simultaneously, magnetic and electrical order parameters and a strong coupling between them. As there exists a lattice coupling between the magnetic and electrical domains, the magnetic ordering can be switched by applying an electric field, and, similarly, electrical ordering can be switched by applying a magnetic field. These interesting properties are highly influenced by various defects in the nanostructured multiferroic lattices. The systematic discussion has been presented on the types of various defects in the lattices of several oxide multiferroic nanoparticles including BiFeO3. The external parameters including grain boundary density can control the formation and concentration of defects in the lattices of multiferroic nanoparticles and the effect of the defects on the dielectric, polarization, magnetization, and magnetoelectric properties of multiferroic-based nanoparticles have been discussed in detail.