Great multiferroic properties in BiFeO 3 /BaTiO 3 system with composite-like structure

Multiferroic materials have attracted significant research attention due to their technological potential for applications as multifunctional devices. The scarcity of single-phase multiferroics and their low inherent coupling between multiferroic order parameters above room temperature pose a challenge to their further applications. We propose a 3BiFeO 3 /7BaTiO 3 perovskite–perovskite composite that combines ferroelectricity and ferromagnetism. We demonstrate that the sintering temperature can tailor the ferroelectricity and ferromagnetism of the composites. The multiferroicity can be achieved at a low sintering temperature in the composite-like structure ceramics, and its multiferroic properties, especially the ferromagnetism, are superior to those of solid solutions. We also investigate the dynamic evolution of multiferroicity with sintering temperature. We adopt a nano–micro strategy to construct a composite-like microstructure, which results in optimized ferroelectric (1.62 μC cm −2 ) and ferromagnetic (0.16 emu/g) characteristics at a sintering temperature of 750 °C. We also found experimental evidence of the competition between antiferromagnetic and ferromagnetic interactions in the transition metal cation sublattice. Multiferroic BiFeO 3 /BaTiO 3 composites with combined ferroelectric and ferromagnetic properties have significant potential for various applications.