Strong enhancement in structural, dielectric, impedance and magnetoelectric properties of NdMnO3 - BaTiO3 multiferroic composites

Highlights: • (1-x)NdMnO₃ –(x)BaTiO₃ multiferroic composites have been synthesized via solid state reaction method. • Significant improvement is observed in dielectric, impedance and ferroelectric properties of NdMnO₃ with BT addition. • Multiferroism and magnetoelectricity displayed by NdMnO₃ -BaTiO₃ composites. • These results are related to lattice stability and thermally activated hopping mechanism. Multiferroic composites are advantageous from technological perspective because of their flexible electrical and magnetic properties. The multiferroic composites of (1-x)NdMnO₃ – (x)BaTiO₃ (x = 0, 0.1 and 0.2) were synthesized via solid state reaction method. The structural analysis from XRD studies of (1-x)NdMnO₃-(x)BaTiO₃ exhibits distinct peaks of orthorhombic NdMnO₃ (NMO) and tetragonal BaTiO₃ (BT) phases with absence of any other impurity phases in the composites. The frequency variation of dielectric measurements reveals step-like decrease and confirm Maxwell-Wagner Polarization associated with improved conducting nature in NMO-BT composites. The NMO-20BT composite exhibited giant dielectric behavior owing from lattice stability and hopping mechanism. The impedance measurements confirm improved resistivity in NMO-BT composites and confirm thermally activated non-Debye type conduction behavior in NMO-BT in them. The occurrence of saturated ferroelectric polarization composites along with enhanced remnant magnetization and improved magnetoelectric coupling in NMO-20BT composite due to lattice stability establishes multiferroism in NMO-BT composites.