Investigation of magnetoelectric coupling effect in strongly ferroic oxide composites

The composites of (1 − x)Ba0.6Sr0.4TiO3 + (x)Ni0.5Zn0.5Fe2O4, i.e. (1 − x)BST + (x)NZF (x = 0.0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8, 1.0) were synthesized using double sintering solid-state reaction method. Temperature-dependent resistivity showed systematic metal to semiconducting transition behavior for all the samples except for the pure BST. From magnetic hysteresis characterization, values of saturation magnetization, coercivity, and remanence have been obtained and found to increase with doping of NZF into BST. In our earlier reported work, x = 0.4 sample came out with excellent dielectric properties. Here, for the same sample, i.e. x = 0.4, reasonable magnetic properties were observed. Lower values of magnetoelectric coupling coefficient may be ascribed to the leakage of charges through the comparatively lower resistant ferrite grains.