Study of room-temperature magnetoelectric coupling in (1 − x )BaTiO 3 and ( x )NiFe 2 O 4 multiferroic composites

In this article, we report a systematic study of room-temperature magnetoelectric coupling in 0–3 particulate and 2–2 laminated (bilayer and sandwiched) composite structures of (1 − x )BaTiO 3 and ( x )NiFe 2 O 4 ( x = 0.05, 0.15, 0.25, 0.35 and 0.45). Powder X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopic analysis confirm the existence of ferrite (spinel NiFe 2 O 4 : NFO) and ferroelectric (tetragonal BaTiO 3 : BTO) phases in sintered composites without any detectable impurities. Significant variations in electrical polarization and magnetization parameters are observed in composite samples compared to pristine BTO and NFO. The perceived strain-mediated magnetoelectric (ME) coupling is found to be strongly dependent on the relative mass ratio of BTO and NFO in both the particulate and laminated structures. An enhanced magnetoelectric coefficient ( α ME ) of 25.23 mV/cm·Oe is realized for sandwiched-laminated structure of (1 − x )BaTiO 3 and ( x )NiFe 2 O 4 with x = 0.45 at an applied magnetic field of 1.34 KOe compared to 0–3 particulate and bilayer-laminated composite structures.