Room temperature multiferrocity and magnetodielectric properties of ternary (1-x) (0.94Bi0.5Na0.5TiO3-0.06BaTiO3)-xBiFeO3 (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.9) solid solutions

(1-x)(0.94Bi(0.5)Na(0.5)TiO(3)-0.06BaTiO(3))-xBiFeO(3) (0 <= x <= 0.9) ternary ceramics were prepared by the modified Pechini method. X ray diffraction patterns manifest that the samples undergo a gradual structural transformation from the rhombohedral-tetragonal morphotropic phase boundary to the rhombohedral phase with the increasing content of BiFeO3. Room temperature ferromagnetism was observed in BiFeO3-rich samples with x >= 0.6, and this ferromagnetism can be ascribed to the suppression of the spiral spin structure with the canting of antiferromagnetically ordered spins. The BiFeO3-rich samples (x = 0.6-0.8) exhibit superior ferroelectric properties with the maximum remanent polarization of 44.7 mu C/cm(2), as confirmed by the positive-up negative-down measurement to exclude the contribution of leakage current. The coexistence of room-temperature ferromagnetism and ferroelectricity manifests that the lead-free BiFeO3-based solid solutions are quite promising multiferroic materials and may be important for potential applications in BFO-based magnetoelectric devices.