A new (Ba, Ca) (Ti, Zr)O(3) based multiferroic composite with large magnetoelectric effect

The lead-free ferroelectric 0.5Ba(Zr(0.2)Ti(0.8))O(3) − 0.5(Ba(0.7)Ca(0.3))TiO(3) (BCZT) is a promising component for multifunctional multiferroics due to its excellent room temperature piezoelectric properties. Having a composition close to the polymorphic phase boundary between the orthorhombic and tetragonal phases, it deserves a case study for analysis of its potential for modern electronics applications. To obtain magnetoelectric coupling, the piezoelectric phase needs to be combined with a suitable magnetostrictive phase. In the current article, we report on the synthesis, dielectric, magnetic, and magnetoelectric characterization of a new magnetoelectric multiferroic composite consisting of BCZT as a piezoelectric phase and CoFe(2)O(4) (CFO) as the magnetostrictive phase. We found that this material is multiferroic at room temperature and manifests a magnetoelectric effect larger than that of BaTiO(3) −CoFe(2)O(4) bulk composites with similar content of the ferrite phase.