Multiferroic and magnetoelectric properties of BiFeO3-CoFe2O4-poly(vinylidene-flouride) composite films

Multiferroic thick nanocomposite films of (1 - x)(0.3CoFe(2)O(4)-0.7BiFeO(3))-xPolyvinylidene difluoride (CFO-BFO/PVDF) with x variations 0.20, 0.30 and 0.40 were synthesized using hot press method. Detailed measurements of structural, dielectric, magnetic and magnetoelectric data have been reported. Structural characterization reveals the presence of all the three distinct phases viz. CFO, BFO and PVDF. The dielectric loss as low as 0.05 has been observed for composite film with 40 mol% of PVDF. The AC conductivity (5.9 x 10(-8) Omega(-1) cm(-1)) of composite film (x = 0.40) is found to be much lower as compared to CFO-BFO ceramic. The electric poling of composite film (with x = 0.30) leads to substantial increase in saturation (2M(s)) and remnant magnetization (2M(r)). A significant magnetoelectric effect with magnetoelectric voltage coefficient (alpha(ME)) similar to 22.128 mV/cm Oe has been observed for composite film with x = 0.40, which is possibly a consequence of implicit mechanical interaction between CFO and BFO through PVDF matrix. Hence these nanocomposite films hold a great potential to be promising candidates for multiferroic devices.