Concurrent existence of magneto-electric coupling and electro-optic Kerr effect in perovskite-based ternary composites for energy reservoirs

Abstract

Multiferroics, specifically magneto-electric materials that couple the ferroelectric and ferromagnetic responses, have boosted researchers' interest in fabricating energy storage devices. For this purpose, we synthesized the perovskite-based triphasic composites using sol–gel auto- combustion and solid–state reaction route. The presence of pure perovskite phases and lattice parameters were noted by X-ray diffraction analysis. Further, Rietveld’s refinement confirmed the precision of phase analysis with a high degree of goodness of fit. The homogenous and uniform growth of grains for 0.1BiFeO3 + 0.7BaTiO3 + 0.2Nd0.5Dy0.5MnO3 composite was seen by field emission scanning electron microscope and scanning transmission electron microscope. The perfect match between empirical elemental composition and prepared composites was determined by energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. The highest remanent, maximum polarization, recoverable energy density, and ferroelectric efficiency were observed for the composite mentioned above. Furthermore, mathematical modeling via Python was carried out with ferroelectric data, and a mathematical relation was derived between the electric field and dielectric constant to observe the electro-optic Kerr effect. Similarly, the above-mentioned composite was seen with the highest coercive field, remanent, and maximum magnetization by M–H loops. Finally, the variation in polarization by changing the magnetic field confirmed M-E coupling and declared this 0.1BiFeO3 + 0.7BaTiO3 + 0.2Nd0.5Dy0.5MnO3 triphasic composite as best candidate for energy storage devices.