Study of crystal structure, dielectric, magnetic and magnetoelecrtic properties of xCoFe2O4-(1-x)Na0.5Bi0.5TiO3 composites

Multiferroic composites of spinel ferrite and ferroelectric xCoFe2O4 - (1-x)Na0.5Bi0.5TiO3 (with x = 0.10,0.30,0.50) were efficiently prepared by standard solid state reaction mechanism. X-ray diffractometer was used to analyze crystal structure of the prepared composites. The observed XRD patterns of the composites comprise peaks of both the phases i.e. ferrite and ferroelectric, with no sign of secondary peaks. Rietveld refinement of XRD data further confirms the coexistence of these two phases with cubic (Fd3m) and rhombohedral (R3c) symmetry corresponding to ferrite and ferroelectric phase respectively. The 3-dimensional overview of crystal structure of pure CoFe2O4 and Na0.5Bi0.5TiO3 and of composite 0.50CoFe2O4−0.50Na0.5Bi0.5TiO3 is generated by using refined parameters. The dielectric constant (ε´) and dielectric loss (tanδ) values were recorded as a function of frequency ranging from 100 Hz to 7 MHz and at different temperatures. Both ε´ and tanδ follow dispersion pattern at lower frequencies while show frequency independent behavior at higher frequencies. The magnetic evaluation carried by analyzing M-H hysteresis loop reveals the ferrimagnetic characteristics of these composites. The highest value of magnetic moment is 1.12μB observed for composite 0.50CoFe2O4 - 0.50Na0.5Bi0.5TiO3. Magnetoelectric (ME) voltage coefficient (α) was also demonstrated to observe the interaction between ferrite and ferroelectric phases. The highest value of α (72.72μV/Oe cm) is obtained for low ferrite composition 0.10CoFe2O4 - 0.90Na0.5Bi0.5TiO3, which suggests the dependence of magnetoelectric response on the resistivity of the composites.