Multiferroic nanoparticulate Bi3.15Nd0.85Ti3O12–CoFe2O4 composite thin films prepared by a chemical solution deposition technique

Abstract

Multiferroic xBi3.15Nd0.85Ti3O12–(1−x)CoFe2O4 composite thin films with x=0.5, 0.6, and 0.7 were fabricated on Pt∕Ti∕SiO2∕Si(100) substrates by a chemical solution deposition technique. X-ray diffraction shows that there are no other phases but bismuth-layered perovskite Bi3.15Nd0.85Ti3O12 and spinel CoFe2O4 phases in the films. Scanning electron microscopy reveals that CoFe2O4 aggregates locally into nanoparticles and embeds in the Bi3.15Nd0.85Ti3O12 matrix. The composite films exhibit both good ferroelectric and magnetic properties at room temperature, as well as distinct magnetoelectric coupling behaviors, which are comparable with those of multiferroic composite films with conventional Pb-based ferroelectric as a ferroelectric component.