Structural, electrical and multiferroic characteristics of thermo-mechanically fabricated BiFeO₃-(BaSr)TiO₃ solid solutions

A solid solution consisting of two perovskite compounds (BiFeO₃ and (BaSr)TiO₃) of chemical composition (Bi_1/2Ba_1/4Sr_1/4)(Fe_1/2Ti_1/2)O₃ has been fabricated in the low dimensional regime by thermo-mechanical (ball milling and heating) approach. The effect of particle size on the structural, micro-structural, relative permittivity, switching (ferroelectric and magnetic) and conduction phenomena of the material has been studied using various experimental techniques such as x-rays diffraction, transmission and scanning electron microscopy, ferroelectric and magnetic hysteresis, dynamic magneto-electric coupling measurement and impedance spectroscopy techniques. All the above extracted properties are found to be particle size dependent. The first order magneto-electric coupling constant is found to be 2.56, 6.6 and 8.7 mV cm⁻¹.Oe for 30, 60 and 90 h milled calcined (hmc) sample respectively. As the above micro/nano-material with different particle size, has a high relative dielectric constant and low tangent loss, it can be used for some multifunctional devices including capacity energy storage device in nano-electronics. (paper)