Effects of Sm-Substitution on Dielectric and Multiferroic Properties of BiFeO₃–BaTiO₃ Ceramics

Abstract

Samarium modified 0.6BiFeO₃–0.4BaTiO₃ multiferroic ceramics have been prepared through solid state reaction technique. XRD data confirms the tetragonal phase structure of the prepared materials. The SEM exhibits the compactness of the compound with uniform grain distribution on the surface. The frequency and temperature dependence dielectric properties have shown the normal ferroelectric behavior. Impedance measurements confirm a non-Debye type relaxation mechanism. Grain resistance and grain capacitance have calculated through Nyquist plot. Ac conductivity with temperature reveals the NTCR behavior of the materials. The activation energy ($E_{\mathrm{a}}$) has been estimated from temperature dependence ac conductivity. Multiferroic nature of the materials confirms through the P-E and M-H measurements.

Keywords:

• Multiferroic ceramics
• structural properties
• dielectric properties
• impedance spectroscopy

Acknowledgments

The authors are thankful to UGC, DAE CSR, Kolkata, India, and IIT, Kharagpur, India, for Magnetic (SQUID) and SEM measurements, respectively.

Funding

This effort is partially supported by DST research project (Memo No.: 296 (Sanc.)/ST/P/S&T/16G-17/2017) from DST, West Bengal, India.

Table 1. Value of calculated lattice parameters after refinement of pure and Sm-doped BFO–BT ceramics.

Table 2. Value of activation energy in two different temperature regions for pure and Sm-doped BFO–BT ceramics.