Strain mediated magnetoelectric coupling response in Ba0.85Ca0.15Ti0.9Zr0.1O3–CoFe1.95Mg0.05O4 particulate multiferroic composites

The present study attempts to explore the M–E coupling in the novel environmental friendly multiferroic composite. The chosen materials, Ba0.85Ca0.15Ti0.9Zr0.1O3 and CoFe1.95Mg0.05O4, possess high piezoelectric and magnetostrictive coefficients, respectively. Accordingly, the series of (1 − x)Ba0.85Ca0.15Ti0.9Zr0.1O3–xCoFe1.95Mg0.05O4 (where, x = 0.0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5 and 1.0) composites have been fabricated by using solid-state route and characterized using various techniques. X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopic (SEM) analysis confirm the presence of ferroelectric and ferromagnetic phases. The elemental tests performed using the EDS technique reveals the formation of 0–3 type of particulate composites, without any impurity phase. The multiferroic features of the composites are explored by the polarization versus electric field (P–E) and magnetization versus magnetic field (M–H) hysteresis measurements. The dielectric measurements show a decrement in the dielectric constant, while a reverse trend has been observed in loss tangent values with increasing ferrite concentration. Finally, the magnetoelectric coupling (αME) and magnetodielectric (M–D) coefficients measurement techniques were used to investigate the coupling effect in composites. The maximum coupling response is attained at greater ferrite concentrations and the corresponding coupling coefficients are M–D = 4.19% at x = 0.5 and αmax = 1.96 mV/cm Oe at x = 0.4. In addition, several aspects impacting M–E coupling behavior have been thoroughly studied.