Induced magnetism and magnetoelectric coupling in ferroelectric BaTiO3 by Cr-doping synthesized by a facile chemical route

Pure phase barium titanate (BTO) and Cr doped BTO have been synthesized by a facile single step metal-organic decomposition (MOD) method. Thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) is performed on the processed sample to analyse the thermal stability of the compound. A tetragonal to distorted cubic phase transformation of BTO by Cr doping has been confirmed by X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy. Cr doping in BTO reduced the ferroelectric transition temperature from 122 degrees C to 108 degrees C. A ferroelectric polarization value of 14.5 mu C cm(-2) for pure BTO was obtained, which decreased to 3.7 mu C cm(-2) by 1.5 Cr doping. The diamagnetism of BTO partially transformed into ferromagnetic behaviour by Cr-doping at the expense of a decrease in polarization. The magnetoelectric coefficient has been measured by the dynamic MEB method which was recorded as 13 mV cm(-1) Oe(-1) for 1.5 Cr : BTO at room temperature. Induced electric polarization has been obtained by applying an external magnetic field due to the local interaction of d electron spins with disordered electric dipoles via oxygen vacancies created by the Cr doping in BaTiO3. Such materials possess immense potential in low energy consumption for miniaturized device applications in the area of spintronics, sensors and transducers and multistage memory.