Effect of Cr doping on ferroelectric and magnetic properties of Bi0.8Ba0.2FeO3

Multiferroic ceramics Bi0.8Ba0.2Fe1-xCrxO3 (x=0, 0.05 and 0.1) were synthesized by using the conventional solid state reaction method. The pure phase with rhombohedral structure was confirmed by the X-ray diffraction measurements for all samples. It was shown that the magnetic and the ferroelectric properties were simultaneously improved, and the maximum values of the remnant magnetization (2Mr) and the remnant polarization (2Pr) at room temperature for all samples are around 1 emu/g and 1.9 mu C/cm(2), respectively. Furthermore, the leakage current density, the low frequency dispersion in the dielectric constant and the dielectric loss decreased with increasing the Cr concentration from x=0 to 0.1. A remarkable change in the P-E loop was observed whether a bias de magnetic field was applied or not, approving the existence of the magnetoelectric coupling indirectly therein. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd and Techna Group S.r.l. All rights reserved.