Magnetism-Driven Ferroelectricity in Double Perovskite Y2NiMnO6

We report the discovery of multiferroic behavior in double perovskite Y2NiMnO6. X-ray diffraction shows that the material has a centrosymmetric crystal. structure of space group P2(1)/n with Ni2+/Mn4+ Ordering. This result is further confirmed by aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy combined with atomic resolution electron energy loss spectroscopy. The appearance of ferroelectric polarization. coincides with the magnetic phase transition (similar to 67 K), which indicates that the ferroelectricity is driven by magnetism, and this is further confirmed by its strong Magnetoelectric (ME) effect. We proposed the origin of the ferro electricity is associated with the combination of Ni2+/Mn4+ charge ordering and the up arrow up arrow down arrow down arrow spin ordering. When compared with other known magnetic multiferroics, Y2NiMnO6 displays several attractive multiferroic properties, including high polarization (similar to 145 mu C/m(2)), a high multiferroic transition temperature (similar to 67 K), and strong ME coupling (similar to 21%).