Study of structural, electrical and magnetic characterization of (1-x)BiFeO3-xBaTiO3 solid solution

Abstract

The materials which exhibit coupled electric, magnetic, and structural order parameters, yield simultaneous effects of ferroelectricity, ferromagnetism, and ferroelasticity are referred as multiferroics. Multiferroic properties like ferromagnetism and ferroelectricity of BiFeO3 (BFO) have been reported to be enhanced by forming solid solution with BaTiO3 (BT) designated by BFO-BT. In the present investigations, a solid solution of (1-x)BFO-xBT (x = 0, 0.05, 0.10, 0.15, 0.20, 0.30, 0.40, 0.50, 0.60, 0.70, 0.80, 0.85, 0.90, and 1.0) single phase have been synthesized by solid state ceramic route. Structural, magnetic and electrical properties of single phase solid solution of BFO-BT have studied in detail to understand their multiferroic properties. In powder X-ray diffraction confirms the formation of single phase solid solution of BFO-BT. The structural change from rhombohedral to tetragonal is observed with MPB. Decrease in distortion of rhombohedral lattice is observed with BaTiO3 addition. All the samples show weak ferromagnetic behavior at room temperature due to a residual magnetic moment caused by canting spin magnetic structure having low coercivity and high saturation magnetization. The polar lattice of BiFeO3/BaTiO3 is retained throughout the solid solutions as observed from the polarization study. The ferroelectricity is observed throughout the solid solutions.