Large remanent polarization and enhanced magnetic properties in non-quenched Bi(Fe,Ga)O₃-(Ba,Ca)(Zr,Ti)O₃ multiferroic ceramics Available to Purchase

It is a tough issue to release the underlying polarization and magnetization simultaneously in non-quenched polycrystalline BiFeO₃ ceramics due to their high conductivity, intensive domain-wall clamping, and long range spiral spin arrangement. Here, 0.75BiFe_0.98Ga_0.02O₃-0.25(Ba_0.85Ca_0.15)(Zr_0.10Ti_0.90)O₃ multiferroic ceramics were fabricated by a conventional solid-state reaction with a non-quenched method. The crystalline structure analysis revealed that the ceramics showed a rhombohedral (R3c) perovskite structure. Superior ferroelectricity was observed in the ceramics with high remanent polarization (44 μC/cm²), which has been re-verified by PUND measurement to exclude the contribution of leakage current. Moreover, enhanced ferromagnetism with remanent magnetization (0.20 emu/g) was also obtained at 300 K. We have demonstrated that the observed macroscopic magnetization was attributed to the canting of the spins due to melting away of the spiral structure rather than other Fe-containing impurity phases. The excellent ferroelectric and ferromagnetic performance suggests that this non-quenched lead-free BiFeO₃-based ceramics are quite promising multiferroic materials.