Magneto-electric coupling in Fe 48 Rh 52 -PZT multiferroic composite

In the paper there are presented magnetic, magnetoelectric, and magnetocaloric properties of the ${\mathrm{Fe}}_{48}{\mathrm{Rh}}_{52}$-PZT bilayer multiferroic composite close to room temperature. The maximum of adiabatic temperature change as well as the large magnetoelectric ordering around the antiferromagnetic-magnetic phase transition temperature of 315 K for a magnetic field change of 0.62 T is demonstrated. The application of a voltage across the bilayer structure shifts the metamagnetic transition by ∼4 K in cooling and by ∼3 K in heating. The magnitude of the magnetoelectric and magnetocaloric effects depends on the strain/stress in the magnetic layer induced by the piezoelectric one as a result of applying electric field. Such a finding can be successfully employed for controlling of the magnetic properties of caloric materials.