Research articlesDetailed investigation on structural, dielectric, magnetic and magnetodielectric properties of BiFeO3-BaSrTiO3 solid solutions

Polycrystalline (1 − x) BiFeO3-xBa0.8Sr0.2TiO3 (0.1 ≤ x ≤ 0.9) ceramics have been synthesized by using the solid-state-reaction method. The structural, dielectric, ferroelectric, magnetic and electrical properties of the resulting solid solutions have been investigated. XRD analysis reveals that the composition-driven rhombohedral to cubic phase transition occurs at x ≈ 0.4. Experimental results reveal that BST substitution leads to the suppression of the spiral spin structure, resulting in the appearance of net magnetization. The electrical conductivity has been found to increase with increase in frequency of applied electric field. The dielectric constant (ε′) and the dielectric loss (ε″) have been found to decrease with increase in frequency of applied electric field and shows non-Debye relaxation behavior. The samples have been found to exhibit magnetoelectric coupling (up to x = 0.2). An enhancement in ferroelectric properties with increasing BST content (up to x = 0.3) has been observed.