Structural, magnetic and ferroelectric properties of magnetoelectrically coupled xBa(0.95)Sr(0.05)TiO(3)-(1-x)BiFe0.90Sm0.10O3 ceramics

The standard solid state reaction method was followed to synthesize the polycrystalline xBa(0.95)Sr(0.05)TiO(3)-(1-x)BiFe0.9Sm0.1O3 [xBST-(1-x)BFSmO, x = 0-0.35] ceramics. The XRD pattern revealed a structural transition of the prepared ceramics from rhombohedral to cubic symmetry. The mean grain size was estimated in the micrometer range, with values ranging from 0.40 to 1.95 & mu;m. The maximum real part of the complex initial permeability of 28.26 was noticed for x = 0.30 multiferroic ceramics. The highest remanent magnetization determined for the x = 0.30 sample was 3.4 10(-2) emu/g. For the sample with x = 0.35 the maximum recorded dielectric constant was found to be 677 at 10(3) Hz. A small value of dielectric loss (<5%) was observed. The compound exhibited significant remanent polarization and a reduction in the leakage current. In addition, the investigated materials comprise large magnetoelectric coefficients and the optimum magnetoelectric coefficient of 0.662 mV.cm(-1).Oe(-1)was obtained for the x = 0.30 composition.