Magnetic properties and magnetoelectric (ME) effect in ferroelectric rich Ni0.2Co0.8 Fe2O4 + PbZr0.8Ti0.2O3 ME composites

Magnetoelectric composites with composition (x) Ni0.2Co0.8Fe2O4 (ferrite) + (1 − x)PbZr0.8Ti0.2O3 (ferroelectric) in which x varies as 0.0, 0.15, 0.30, 0.45 and 1.0 mol% have been prepared by double sintering ceramic method. The X-ray diffraction pattern of the composites reveals the formation of spinel structure for the ferrite phase and perovskite structure for the ferroelectric phase without any other phase formation. Scanning electron micrographs (SEM) were taken to understand the microstructure and grain size of the samples. The estimated values of the porosity of the samples lie between 4.5% and 16.2%. Hysteresis measurements were used to determine saturation magnetization (Ms) and magnetic moment (μ) and the variations of saturation magnetization and magnetic moment were interpreted in terms of the composition of the samples. From AC susceptibility studies the contribution of both single domain (SD) particle of the ferrite phase and mixed (MD + SD) particle of the composites in ME output was discussed. The magnetoelectric voltage coefficient (dE/dH)H was measured as a function of DC magnetic field and the maximum value of ME conversion factor was observed (828 μV cm−1 Oe−1) for the composite with 15% ferrite and 85% ferroelectric phase.