Multiferroic and magnetoelectric properties of single-phase Bi0.85La0.1Ho0.05FeO3 ceramics

Single-phase Bi(0.85)La(0.1)Ho(0.05)FeO(3) multiferroic ceramics were prepared by a rapid liquid sintering method. The ceramics exhibited an obvious ferroelectric loop with a remnant polarization of 11.2 mu C/cm(2) and also showed weak ferromagnetism with the remnant magnetization of 0.179 emu/g at room temperature. A considerable enhancement of the polarization on magnetic poling and a dielectric anomaly in the vicinity of the antiferromagnetic transition temperature due to the intrinsic magnetoelectric coupling effect were observed in Bi(0.85)La(0.1)Ho(0.05)FeO(3) ceramics. The dielectric constant for the Bi(0.8)La(0.1)Ho(0.05)FeO(3) samples at room temperature decreases with increasing applied magnetic fields, and the coupling coefficient (epsilon'(H) epsilon'(0))/epsilon'(0) reaches -1.04% at H = 10 kOe. (C) 2011 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.