Weak ferromagnetism in the ferroelectric BiFeO3–ReFeO3–BaTiO3 solid solutions (Re=Dy,La)

The binary and ternary solid solutions, BiFeO3–BaTiO3, BiFeO3–ReFeO3–BaTiO3 (Re=Dy,Pr,La), and BiFeO3–BaFeO2.5–BaTiO3 have been explored for attaining ferromagnetic ferroelectrics in bulk ceramics and understanding the effect of rare earth orthoferrites ReFeO3 on the spontaneous magnetization. The coexistence of ferromagnetism and ferroelectricity has been observed over the composition range of 0.2⩽x⩽0.4 in the (1−x)BiFeO3–xBaTiO3 at room temperature. The introduction of DyFeO3 and LaFeO3 expands the composition range of the coexistence. The most superior ferromagnetic ferroelectrics obtained in this study are the 0.65BiFeO3–0.025DyFeO3–0.325BaTiO3 (Pr=5 μC/cm2,Mr=0.1 emu/g), 0.4875BiFeO3–0.025DyFeO3–0.4875BaTiO3 (Pr=7 μC/cm2,Mr=0.06 emu/g), and 0.475BiFeO3–0.05LaFeO3–0.475BaTiO3 (Pr=3.2 μC/cm2,Mr=0.2 emu/g). The spontaneous magnetization strongly depends on both the type and amount of the substitution components, DyFeO3, LaFeO3, PrFeO3, and BaFeO2.5 rather than the degree of G-type antiferromagnetic ordering. The origin of the spontaneous magnetization has been discussed in terms of antiferromagnetic ordering and charge carrier mediation.