Influence of Zr/Ti atomic ratio and seed layer on the magnetoelectric coupling of Pb(ZrxTi1−x)O3 film-on-CoFe2O4 bulk ceramic composites

Lead zirconate titanate Pb(ZrxTi1−x)O3 films with various Zr/Ti ratios of 20/80, 40/60, 52/48, 60/40 and 80/20 are deposited on highly dense CoFe2O4 ceramics using a simple chemical solution deposition. All Pb(ZrxTi1−x)O3 films are polycrystalline and have no preferential orientations. The dielectric, ferroelectric, piezoelectric and magnetoelectric properties strongly depend on the Zr/Ti ratio. And the Pb(ZrxTi1−x)O3 films with a Zr/Ti ratio close to morphotropic phase boundary exhibit best properties, whose magnetoelectric coefficient is over 1.5 times larger than those of other Zr/Ti ratios. The introduction of a PbO seeding layer between the Pb(Zr0.52Ti0.48)O3 films and CoFe2O4 substrates facilitates the (100)-texture. Therefore, the magnetoelectric coefficient was enhanced by 1.5 times. The further improvement of the magnetoelectric coupling could be anticipated by fabricating Pb(Zr0.52Ti0.48)O3 films with more or absolute (100)-texture and using conductive interfacial layer between two phases.