Fast switching capability and efficient magneto-electric coupling mediated by tunable ferroelectricity and magnetization in tri-phase composites for ultra-sensitive devices

Abstract

Tri-phasic multiferroic composites exhibiting simultaneous magnetic and electric orderings and their coupling, have emerged as a fascinating class of materials for enriched magnetoelectric response that could be feasible for next-generation multistate devices. Such attributes are further triggered by facile synthesis routes and proper selection of phase contents. Herein, a composite series of the form, 0.9[(1–x)BiFeO3 + xCoFe2O4] +0.1Pb(Zr,Ti)O3 (x = 0.0, 0.2, 0.3 and 0.4) was synthesized via citrate–gel based auto-ignition and solid–state reaction routes. The phase-pure existence of spinel phased CoFe2O4 and perovskite textured BiFeO3 and Pb(Zr,Ti)O3 was confirmed by X-ray diffraction and Rietveld’s refinement, while the stoichiometric contents of three phases were verified by energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. The optimized ferroelectric parameters demonstrated an enhancement in polarization by increasing substitutional contents and maximum polarization (0.22 µC/cm2) was observed for x = 0.4 phase fractions. Magnetic hysteresis loops revealed increased magnetization as CoFe2O4 phase-fractions were increased signifying maximum magnetization (Ms = 20.41 ± 0.02 emu/g) for x = 0.4 substitution contents. The findings revealed that x = 0.4 composition was a potential candidate for emerging ultra-fast electric and magnetic energy storage devices.