Significantly enhanced ferroelectricity and magnetic properties in (Sr{sub 0.5}Ca{sub 0.5})TiO{sub 3}-modified BiFeO{sub 3} ceramics
BiFeO{sub 3} multiferroic ceramics were modified by introducing (Sr{sub 0.5}Ca{sub 0.5})TiO{sub 3} to form solid solutions. The single phase structure was easy to be obtained in Bi{sub 1−x}(Sr{sub 0.5}Ca{sub 0.5}){sub x}Fe{sub 1−x}Ti{sub x}O{sub 3} (x = 0.2, 0.25, 0.3, and 0.4) solid solutions. Rietveld refinement of X-ray diffraction data revealed a transition from rhombohedral R3c (x = 0.2, 0.25, and 0.3) to orthorhombic Pnma (x = 0.4). Current density-field (J-E) characteristics indicated that the leakage current density was reduced by three orders of magnitude in Bi{sub 1−x}(Sr{sub 0.5}Ca{sub 0.5}){sub x}Fe{sub 1−x}Ti{sub x}O{sub 3} ceramics. Both the ferroelectricity and magnetic properties were significantly enhanced in the present solid solutions. P-E hysteresis loop measurements with dynamic leakage current compensation methods showed the significantly enhanced ferroelectric properties for x = 0.25 and 0.3 and the paraelectric behavior for x = 0.4. The best ferromagnetic characteristics were achieved in the composition of x = 0.25, where the saturated M-H loop was determined with M{sub r} = 34.8 emu/mol. The improvement of ferroelectricity was mainly due to the suppressed leakage current, and the enhanced magnetism originated from the partial substitution of Fe{sup 3+} by Ti{sup 4+}, which destroyed its previous spiral structure to allow the appearance of a macroscopic magnetization.