Exploring magnetoelectric coupling in trilayer [Ba(Zr0.2Ti0.8)O3- 0.5(Ba0.7Ca0.3)TiO3]/ CoFe2O4/[Ba(Zr0.2Ti0.8)O3- 0.5(Ba0.7Ca0.3)TiO3] thin film

Abstract

Magnetoelectric (ME) heterostructures with strong ME coupling at room temperature are of great importance due to their promising applications in next-generation devices. Here, lead-free [Ba(Zr0.2Ti0.8)O3-0.5(Ba0.7Ca0.3)TiO3]/CoFe2O4/[Ba(Zr0.2Ti0.8)O3-0.5(Ba0.7Ca0.3)TiO3] (abbreviated as (BZT-0.5BCT)/CFO/(BZT-0.5BCT)) trilayer thin film has been deposited on Pt/Ti/SiO2/Si (100) substrate by pulsed laser deposition technique. Dielectric properties of trilayer thin film show the relaxor behavior and high value of dielectric constant (∼2.2 × 103) with low dielectric loss (∼0.16) at frequency 100 Hz at room temperature. Typical ferroelectric and magnetic hysteresis loops were found with large electric polarizations (Ps = 12.14 μC/cm2, Pr = 6.0 μC/cm2) and magnetization (Ms = 246 emu/cc and Mr = 66.6 emu/cc), respectively. The change in PE loop on the application of magnetic field represents the strong ME coupling. The high value of ME coefficient (αME∼0.74 V/cm.Oe) was detected at room temperature which indicates its potential application for multifunctional ME devices.