Oxygen vacancy-induced ferromagnetism in Bi4NdTi3FeO15 multiferroic ceramics

Abstract

Layered Aurivillius compounds with multiferroic properties have attracted much attention due to their rich fundamental physics and great application potential. However, the ferroelectric and magnetic properties are different for these compounds with different synthesis conditions. In this paper, we investigate the structure, ferroelectricity, and magnetism of four-layer Aurivillius-phase multiferroic Bi4NdTi3FeO15. The four-layer structure is confirmed by powder X-ray diffraction and high-angle annular dark field scanning transmission electron microscopy. The ferroelectricity together with dielectric constant can be reduced by vacuum-annealing treatment due to the increase of oxygen vacancy concentration. More interestingly, the ferromagnetism is strongly enhanced by vacuum-annealing and can be obviously suppressed after re-oxidization, which may be associated with Fe3+-O-Fe2+ coupling originated from the variable valence state of Fe with different oxidization conditions. These findings indicate that oxygen vacancies play a crucial role in the ferroelectric and magnetic properties in Aurivillius compounds synthesized by different conditions.