Insights on structural and magnetic properties of BaZr0.15Ti0.85O3- NiFe2O4 lead-free multiferroics by the solid-state reaction method

A solid solution of Barium Zirconium titanate [NiFe2O4; NF] and [BaZr0.15Ti0.85O3; BZT] and nickel ferrite with different mol% fractions of x(NiFe2O4)-(1-x)BaZr0.15Ti0.85O3 (where x = 0.03, 0.05, 0.07, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4) (abbreviated as NB-0.03, NB-0.05, NB-0.07, NB-0.1, NB-0.2, NB-0.3, NB-0.4) was synthesized via a cost effective solid-state technique. Phase identification and basic structural symmetry of the samples were determined by analyzing powder X-ray diffraction data. It reveals that the samples have a tetragonal structure along with the cubic spinel ferrite phase. The diffraction peaks shifted slightly to the side of greater angle side and average crystallite size was computed by Scherer's formula in range of 26-29 nm. Since ferrite's compositional fluctuation is less than 1% for the compositions (x = 0.1,0.2,0.3,0.4), the overall crystal phase is dominated by perovskite phase which was further confirmed by room temperature Raman spectra. At room temperature (300 K), the magnetic hysteresis loop measurements also showed a significant improvement in the magnetization of NB-0.40 composite has the maximum observed saturation magnetization = 29.25emu/g and 20.34emu/g at 5 and 300 K, respectively. The calculated magnetic parameters such as saturation magnetization (M-s), remanence (M-r) and coercivity (H-c), showed increased values for some NiFe2O4 doped BZT samples. Thus, it has been assumed that this sample could be utilized to enhance the magnetoelectric coupling for practical application.