Structural, dielectric, electrical and magnetic characteristics of lead-free multiferroic: Bi(Cd0.5Ti0.5)O3[sbnd]BiFeO3 solid solution

Abstract

This communication provides the detailed description of the synthesis and characterization of a lead-free multiferroic solid solution of Bi(CdTi)O3 and BiFeO3 of a general chemical composition Bi(Cd0.45Ti0.45Fe0.10)O3 (abbreviated as BCTFO). The material has been synthesized via a solvent-free solid-state reaction approach by utilizing high-purity oxides and carbonate in appropriate stoichiometric amount. The structural, morphological, molecular structure, electrical and magnetic characteristics of as-synthesized electronic system were examined by the powder X-ray diffraction, field emission scanning electron microscopy, vibrating sample magnetometer and impedance spectroscopy techniques respectively in different experimental conditions. Analysis of X-ray diffraction data of BCTFO shows a single-phase formation of the material in orthorhombic crystal symmetry with very fine powder (average linear crystallite dimension = 30 nm). Detailed studies of dielectric parameters (dielectric constant, tangent loss and polarization) in a selected frequencies (1 kHz–1.5 MHz) and temperatures (300 K–773 K) clearly exhibit one of the important components of multiferroics (i.e., ferroelectricity). Studies of some components of electrical parameters (dielectric, impedance, electric modulus and conductivity) of complex spectroscopy confirmed the existence of non-Debye type and other type of dielectric relaxation process in the material. The correlation between the real and idealized circuit response at several temperatures has been investigated by using ZSIMP WIN software and impedance data. Study of another component of multiferroics (i.e., field dependent magnetization) of BCTFO shows the significantly higher value of remnant and spontaneous magnetization. Thus, the existence of dielectric polarization and magnetization is single phase (orthorhombic) in a distorted perovskite confirms the multiferroicity of bismuth ferrite modified bismuth cadmium titanate (BCTFO) at room temperature, and hence the material can be used for some multifunctional applications.