Engineering functionality in the multiferroic BiFeO3 - controlling chemistry to enable advanced applications

An in-depth look at the complex materials chemistry of multiferroics is undertaken. In the last decade, considerable attention has been focused on the search for and characterization of new multiferroic materials as scientists and researchers have been driven by the promise of exotic materials functionality (i.e., electric field control of ferromagnetism). In this manuscript we develop a picture of multiferroic materials, including details on the nature of order parameters and coupling in these materials, the scarcity of such materials, routes to create and control the properties in these materials, and we finish by investigating such effects in the model multiferroic BiFeO3.