Phase evolution and magnetoelectric coupling studies in multiferroic Fe doped BST solid solutions

• Published in: Applied physics. A, Materials science & processing Materials science & processing, 2021-08, Vol.127 (8), Article 587
• Main Authors: Chawla, Aanchal, Verma, Swati, Pushkarna, Ishita, Malhi, P. S., Singh, Anupinder, Babu, P. D., Singh, Mandeep
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Applied physics; Characterization and Evaluation of Materials; Condensed Matter Physics; Coupling; Crystal structure; Ferric ions; Frequency measurement; Grain size; Machines; Magnetic properties; Manufacturing; Materials science; Nanotechnology; Optical and Electronic Materials; Physics; Physics and Astronomy; Processes; Solid solutions; Surfaces and Interfaces; Thin Films; X ray photoelectron spectroscopy
• ISSN: 0947-8396; 1432-0630
• DOI: 10.1007/s00339-021-04740-1

Polycrystalline Ba 0.96 Sr 0.04 Ti 1-3x/4 Fe x O 3 samples (0.06 ≤ x ≤ 0.15) were prepared using solid state reaction technique. The Rietveld refined XRD data confirmed the phase purity and tetragonal crystal structure up to x = 0.08. An additional hexagonal Fe doped BaSrTiO 3 phase along with small amount of segregated Fe 2 O 3 was also detected in x ≥ 0.08 samples. The average grain size as measured using FESEM was observed to be ≈ 0.67 μm. The presence of both Fe 2+ / Fe 3+ ions in all the samples and a decreasing Fe 3+ concentration with x was confirmed using XPS analysis. The remnant polarization value was found to decrease with increasing Fe concentration. The magnetization data reveal that all the samples exhibit magnetic ordering with x = 0.08 sample exhibiting best magnetic parameters. The M-E coupling strength ≈10.05 and 9.62% has been observed in x = 0.08 and x = 0.10 samples. The conductivity vs frequency measurements (at different temperatures) reveal that the samples conduct via correlated barrier hopping of electrons trapped at the singly charged oxygen vacancy sites.