Effect of Ba doping on magnetic, ferroelectric, and magnetoelectric properties in mutiferroic BiFeO3 at room temperature

Ba doped BiFeO3 compounds were prepared by a solid-state reaction. X-ray diffraction showed that Bi1-xBaxFeO3 was single phase up to x=0.25. These samples exhibited magnetism and ferroelectricity simultaneously at room temperature. The magnetoelectric coupling was evidenced by the increase of the dielectric constant with the increase of the applied magnetic field. For Bi0.75Ba0.25FeO3 with Delta H=8 kOe, the values of [epsilon(r)(H)-epsilon(r)(0)]/epsilon(r)(0) are 1.7% and 1% for 80 and 300 K, respectively. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.