Estimation of gradient size of interfacial strain and its optimization for effective magnetoelectric coupling in (CoFe2O4) – (0.93Na0.5Bi0.5TiO3 – 0.07BaTiO3), 2-2 nano-composites

Strain-mediated coupling between the magnetic and electrically ordered phases plays a significant role in magnetoelectric (ME) nano-composites. This study explores a method to analyse and quantify interfacial strain using a grazing angle scan (α) in a ME composite optimised for a specific microstructure. The details of strain around the interface CoFe₂O₄ (CFO) – 0.93Na_0.5Bi_0.5TiO₃ – 0.07BaTiO₃ (NBT-BT) was determined by performing ‘α’ scan, in order to gather information at various depths of the NBT-BT layer around maximum intensity (110) reflection. The strain around the interface was observed to dominate over a spatial region of ～20–30 nm away from the interface. The Piezoresponse force microscopy (PFM) studies performed near the interface reveal that the strain constrain experienced by the ferroelectric layer operates such that polarisation rotation and domain wall motion are constrained compared to the strain relaxed region of the film. For effective strain transfer, heterostructures grown with optimised thicknesses (～20–30 nm) exhibited a superior inverse piezomagnetic effect.     

Spin glass behavior and exchange bias effect in GaFeO3-type iron oxide

GaFeO₃-type iron oxide is a promising room-temperature multiferroic material due to its large magnetization and polarization. To expand the scope of its application, it is crucial to control the magnetic properties. Based on introducing the ferromagnetic (FM) Fe₃O₄ in the antiferromagnetic (AFM) GaFeO₃ to build the FM-AFM interface by changing the Ga/Fe ratio, Ga_0.69Fe_1.31O₃ (GFO) was successfully grown by the floating zone method. The resulting sample was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), and its magnetic properties were measured using a superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID). The temperature-dependent AC susceptibility measurement shows that the spin glass-like behavior of GFO at temperatures close to 50 K is a manifestation of the geometrical frustration arising from cation site disorder. In addition, the magnetic property measurement shows that the magnetic transition temperature Tc is at 650 K, which is introduced by Fe₃O₄ and suppresses the ferromagnetic transition around 320 K of GFO. Interestingly, the observed exchange bias effect, which does not exist in the bulk GaFeO₃-type family, is attributed to the formation of an FM/AFM interface due to the existence of FM Fe₃O₄ in the GFO. This study provides a new perspective on the properties of the GaFeO₃-type family for potential applications in spintronic devices.     

Magnetoelectric transducer with high quality factor for wireless power receiving

To achieve strong power coupling, a resonance-type magnetoelectric (ME) transducer with high quality factor is developed to achieve strong ME coupling. The ME transducer employs a type of iron–nickel-based ferromagnetic alloy with constant elasticity and piezoelectric Pb(Zr,Ti)O₃ (PZT8) material. The dynamic magnetomechanical behavior of the ferromagnetic alloy is investigated. The result indicates that the strain coefficient of the ferromagnetic alloy at resonance achieves 557.07 nm/A due to the high effective mechanical quality factor of the alloy. The transducer is designed to operate as a half-wavelength, longitudinal resonator. The dynamic performance of the transducer is evaluated by measuring its electrical and vibrational characteristics. The results reveal that (1) the resonance of the transducer occurs at the frequency of 26.9336 kHz with a strain coefficient of 314.74 nm/A, an effective mechanical quality factor of 1600; (2) the ME voltage coefficient achieves 30.07 V/Oe (i.e., 375.875 V/cm Oe) at resonance; (3) the ME output power density at optimal load resistance of 25 kΩ achieves 0.956 mW/cm³ under 0.3 Oe root-mean-square AC magnetic field. The performances indicate that the transducer is promising for ME energy conversion application.     

Magnetoelectric coupling in ferroelectromagnets with antiferroelectric and antiferromagnetic orders

This paper reports a theoretical prediction of magnetoelectric-coupling-induced ferromagnetic ordering behavior in ferroelectromagnets with antiferroelectrically and antiferromagnetically ordered components. A Monte-Carlo algorithm based on Janssen model with an intrinsic magnetoelectric coupling between electric polarization and Ising spin is developed. A mean-field approach based on the Heisenberg model is proposed. The simulation reveals that both weak ferromagnetic order and weak ferroelectric order below certain temperature can be activated by the magnetoelectric coupling and by applying external electrical field. The mean-field approach confirms the weak-ferromagnetic phase transitions revealed by the simulation.     

Some current problems in perovskite nano-ferroelectrics and multiferroics: kinetically-limited systems of finite lateral size

Abstract

We describe some unsolved problems of current interest; these involve quantum critical points in ferroelectrics and problems which are not amenable to the usual density functional theory, nor to classical Landau free energy approaches (they are kinetically limited), nor even to the Landau–Kittel relationship for domain size (they do not satisfy the assumption of infinite lateral diameter) because they are dominated by finite aperiodic boundary conditions.     

Thermal treatment effect on the magnetoelectric properties of (Ni0.5Zn0.5)Fe2O4/Pt/Pb(Zr0.3Ti0.7)O3 heterostructured thin films

Magnetoelectric (ME) property modulation in heterostructured (Ni_0.5Zn_0.5)Fe₂O₄/Pt/Pb(Zr_0.3Ti_0.7)O₃ (NZFO/Pt/PZT) thin films on platinized Si substrate by thermal annealing condition variation was studied. In an attempt to prevent interfacial reaction between NZFO and PZT layers during high temperature annealing, thin Pt layer was deposited which can serve as inter-diffusion barrier as well as electrode. The ferroelectric, magnetic, and ME properties of the heterostructured film were noticeably modulated due to microstructural evolution and clamping relaxation developed during thermal annealing process. Room temperature ME voltage coefficient of the heterostructured thin films was enhanced with increasing annealing temperature and reached to 29 mV/cm·Oe when annealed at 650 °C.     

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(Zr_xTi_1−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(Zr_xTi_1−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(Zr_xTi_1−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(Zr_0.52Ti_0.48)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(Zr_0.52Ti_0.48)O₃ films with more or absolute (100)-texture and using conductive interfacial layer between two phases.     

Effect of CoFe2O4 mole percentage on multiferroic and magnetoelectric properties of Na0.5Bi0.5TiO3/CoFe2O4 particulate composites

Na_0.5Bi_0.5TiO₃ (NBT), CoFe₂O₄ (CFO) as well as particulate composites containing different mole percentages of NBT and CFO were synthesized by the solid-state sintering route and characterized for their ferroelectric and ferrimagnetic hysteresis loops, magnetostriction and magnetoelectric (ME) output. The mole% of CFO was found to influence the ferroelectric and ferrimagnetic hysteresis loops as well as magnetostriction and piezomagnetic coefficients which in turn had a significant effect on the magnetoelectric voltage coefficient. The highest magnetoelectric voltage coefficient (α) of 0.5 mV/cm/Oe was recorded in (65) NBT–(35) CFO composite.     

Influence of low external magnetic field on electric field induced strain behavior of 9/70/30, 9/65/35 and 9/60/40 PLZT ceramics

In this work, Pb_0.91La_0.09(Zr_xTi_1−x)_0.9775O₃ PLZT ceramics, where x =0.70, 0.65 and 0.60, were prepared by a solid-state mixed-oxide technique. Structural information was investigated by X-ray diffraction method. Electric field induced polarization and strain behavior of the PLZT ceramics under an influence of static magnetic field were measured by a Sawyer-Tower circuit in conjunction with Michelson interferometer at various static magnetic fields (0–30.7 mT). The results showed that the imposed magnetic field affected the polarization and induced strain behaviors in PLZT ceramics More interestingly, the imposed magnetic field showed more significant influence on the PLZT ceramic composition near morphotropic phase boundary (MPB), i.e. PLZT 9/65/35. The spontaneous polarization of 180° domain switching was seen to be suppressed by the applied magnetic field.