Response of DC biased magnetoelectric coupling in 0–3 type particulate lanthanum modified PZT-CFO composites

Abstract

Magnetoelectric effect (ME) has been investigated in particulate ferroelectric (FE)-ferrimagnetic (FM) composites in the present work. The composition of ceramic composites has been tailored in terms of (1 - x) Pb0.4La0.6Zr0.6Ti0.4O3 (PLZT) – (x)CoFe2O4 (CFO) [x = 0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6 and 1] in order to observe the magnetoelectric coupling. The FE-FM (PLZT-CFO) composites prepared using solid state route were investigated in terms of structural, morphological, dielectric, ferroelectric and magnetic properties. Well crystallized PLZT-CFO composites were observed with binary rhombohedral (R3m) and cubic (Fd3m) phase of PLZT and CFO, respectively, along with well-defined grains for both parent phases. The appearance of relaxor behaviour in prepared composites was revealed from temperature dependent dielectric study. The saturation (Ps) and remnant (Pr) polarizations were observed to be vary from 45µC/cm2 to 10µC/cm2 and 36µC/cm2 to 7 µC/cm2, with the increment in the CFO content from 0 % to 80 %, respectively. The emergence of long-range ferromagnetic ordering is revealed from M-H curves. It is evident from magnetization and polarization studies that each composite exhibits exceptional sensitivity to both the electric and magnetic fields. The magnetoelectric coefficient, is found to be initially rise with x and achieved maximal value of 450 µV/cm.Oe for 40 % CFO content. The obtained results indicate that almost equal number of weight proportion is required for achieving maximum strain transfer between FE-FM phases which is beneficial for future FE-FERAM devices. It is also perceptible that these novel composites may provide knowledge pathway for development of ME multifunctional device miniaturization.