Effect of zirconium substitution on the dielectric and magnetic properties of YMn0.8Fe0.2O3 multiferroic ceramics

Abstract

Dielectric and magnetic properties of Zr substituted YMn0.8Fe0.2O3 ceramics were investigated in this work. Single phase in space group of P63cm and homogeneous microstructure were identified in the Y0.95Zr0.05Mn0.8Fe0.2O3 ceramics, while small amount of secondary phase located at the grain boundary was detected in the Y0.9Zr0.1Mn0.8Fe0.2O3 ceramics. Compared with YMn0.8Fe0.2O3, the significantly reduced room-temperature dielectric loss was obtained in the Y0.95Zr0.05Mn0.8Fe0.2O3 ceramics, and this improvement has great scientific significance for the potential applications of multiferroic materials. The XPS analysis results confirmed that Fe2+ ions disappeared and the Mn2+ content was obviously decreased, when 5 at.% Zr was introduced to the Y sites of YMn0.8Fe0.2O3. The reduced Mn2+ and Fe2+ ions contents led to the obviously reduced dielectric loss of Y0.95Zr0.05Mn0.8Fe0.2O3 ceramics. The existence of enhanced weak ferromagnetic properties and cluster glass state behavior at low temperature was detected in Zr substituted YMn0.8Fe0.2O3 ceramics. The present work suggests a promising YMnO3 based multiferroic ceramics with reduced room-temperature dielectric loss.