Influence of Eu doping on the magnetoelectric and dielectric properties of BiFeO 3 –Bi 0.5 Na 0.5 TiO 3 ceramics

Multiferroic 0.7Bi1-xEuxFeO3–0.3Bi0.5Na0.5TiO3 ceramics with x=0, 0.025, 0.05 and 0.1 were prepared by using the sol–gel method. The effects of Eu doping on the magnetic, ferroelectric and dielectric properties of 0.7BiFeO3–0.3Bi0.5Na0.5TiO3 ceramics were investigated. The X-ray diffraction confirmed that the structure of pure and Eu doped 0.7BiFeO3–0.3Bi0.5Na0.5TiO3 ceramics are rhombohedral with space group R3m. Compared with the pure 0.7BiFeO3–0.3Bi0.5Na0.5TiO3, the magnetic properties of Eu doped samples were significantly enhanced due to structural distortion that results in the canting of spins. Ferroelectric measurements proved that Eu doping enhanced the polarization of the solid solutions by suppressing the oxygen vacancies. Improved coexistence of ferromagnetism and ferroelectricity were observed at room temperature with remnant magnetization Mr=0.117emu/g and remnant polarization Pr=1.43 μC/cm2 for x=0.05. The Eu doped samples confirmed the improvement of the dielectric properties.