Multiferroicity in Ba0.97La0.03Ti1−xNixO3 (0.03 ⩽ x ⩽ 0.07) ceramics

Pure and doped BaTiO3 (BTO) with different doping concentrations e.g. Ba0.97La0.03Ti1−xNixO3 (x = 0.03, 0.05, 0.07) were synthesized via sol-gel method. X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns confirm the single phase formation for all samples. Polarization versus Electric field (P-E) loops for pure BTO shows non linear ferroelectric loop which tends towards lossy capacitor behavior as Ni doping concentration increases from x = 0.03 to 0.07. Moreover, it is observed that the value of dielectric constant and dielectric loss increases with Ni doping concentration and found maximum for x = 0.07 sample. Room temperature magnetization versus magnetic field (M-H) loops indicate the existence of ferromagnetism in x = 0.03 sample. However, x = 0.07 sample shows the presence of diamagnetic phase in this sample. Magnetoelectric study reveals the presence of magnetoelectric coupling only for pure and x = 0.03 and 0.05 sample. However, the value of quadratic magnetoelectric coefficient (β) is maximum for x = 0.03 sample, which is 3.34 × 10−4 μV/cm Oe2.