Structural modification and evaluation of dielectric and ferromagnetic properties of Ce-modified BiFeO3–BaTiO3 ceramics

• Published in: Ceramics international 2020-07, Vol.46 (10), p.15840-15850
• Main Authors: Mostari, Mst. Sharmin, Islam, Nurul, Matin, Md. Abdul
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Crystallite size; Ferromagnetic property; Polygonal grain; Rietveld analysis
• ISSN: 0272-8842; 1873-3956
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ceramint.2020.03.131

An investigation on Rare earth constituent Ce incorporated BiFeO3–BaTiO3 ceramics has been focused in the present study. The ceramic samples of (Bi0.7Ba0.3)1-xCex(Fe0.7Ti0.3)O3 (x = 0–0.12) were formulated adopting the cost-effective solid-state sintering method. The influence of aliovalent Ce ions on the structural, microstructural, dielectric, ferromagnetic, and optical properties of BiFeO3–BaTiO3 was evaluated in this paper. The coexistence of the Tetragonal and the Rhombohedral phases was established by the Rietveld refinement process. The refined crystallographic parameters showed maximum cell volume (Vcell) and the highest percentage of the Rhombohedral phase for x = 0.06; and consequently, the ceramic exhibited the topmost dielectric constant of 946 at x = 0.06. The scanning electron microscopy of the samples revealed the manifestation of polygonal grain morphology. Besides, remarkably improved ferromagnetic properties were evinced for Ce doped ceramics. The magnitude of saturation (Ms) and remnant (Mr) magnetizations were boosted from 0 emu/g and 0.0019 emu/g to 0.9186 emu/g and 0.3745 emu/g respectively with increasing x from 0 to 0.12. Additionally, the optical band gaps of all the samples were evaluated and found to be in the range of 2.941–3.077 eV.