Phase transitions and magneto-electric properties of 70 wt.% Pb (Fe

摘要: There has been immense scientific research interest for designing new room temperature (RT) magneto-electric (ME) materials for various multifunctional device applications. ME multiferroic materials have the simultaneous existence of ferroelectric and ferromagnetic ordering with cross coupling between their respective order parameters. 1 The ME effect can be described as a direct ME (DME) effect, where the induction of electric polarization is observed by the application of a magnetic field and a converse ME (CME) effect where the magnetization is induced by the application of an electric field. 1 Despite of having multiferroic behavior, a strong ME coupling between order parameters is desirable for the realization of multifunctional devices. A weak RT ME effect in single-phase multiferroics and the unavailability of a wide variety of single-phase multiferroic materials with a high value of ME coupling demand the development of a composite structure. The magnetoelectric composites, where the ME effect can be realized through strain mediation at the interface and proximity field effects, are reported to be exhibiting a higher magnitude of ME effect compared with that by the single phase. 2 In recent years, many forms of composites have been studied, such as (i) bulk two-phase composites of piezoelectric and magnetostrictive/piezomagnetic materials [eg, xBa0. 5Pb0. 2TiO3-(1− x) Ni0. 75Co0. 25Fe2O4], 3 (ii) composites of piezoelectric and magnetic alloys [eg, composite of TERFENOL-D and