Articles you may be interested inEffect of magnetic domain structure on longitudinal and transverse magnetoelectric response of particulate magnetostrictive-piezoelectric composites Appl. Phys. Lett.Theory of low-frequency magnetoelectric effects in ferromagnetic-ferroelectric layered composites A method for the preparation of magnetostrictive-piezoelectric particulate composites with enhanced magnetoelectric effect was developed. The composites were synthesized in situ forming a shell of barium titanate around nanoparticles of cobalt ferrite, varying the composition of the cobalt ferrite magnetostrictive phase from 20 to 60 wt. %. Cobalt ferrite nanoparticles were obtained by coprecipitation and then added to the precursor gel of barium titanate, allowing the in situ formation of the composite and thereby restricting the contact of the ferrite particles during sintering. The samples were sintered at a temperature ranging from 1100 to 1250°C for 12 h, followed by a plating step to be electrically poled. Additional samples were prepared by conventional mechanical milling for comparison, starting from cobalt ferrite prepared either by coprecipitation or the sol-gel technique and commercial barium titanate. Samples of same compositions prepared by different methods and sintered under the same conditions showed different behavior. For example, the in situ synthesized sample showed a piezoelectric d 33 constant approximately six times larger and a magnetoelectric voltage coefficient approximately three times larger than the corresponding mechanically milled samples. The piezoelectric d 33 constant decreased with the content of ferrite, achieving the maximum value of 44.6 pC/ N for the in situ prepared sample with 20 wt. % of ferrite sintered at 1200°C. The highest magnetoelectric effect was present in the composition of 50 wt. % ferrite sintered at 1200°C, with a magnetoelectric coefficient of 1.48 mV/ cm Oe at room temperature.

A review of lithium niobate single crystals and polycrystals in the form of powders has been prepared. Both the classical and recent literature on this topic are revisited. It is composed of two parts with sections. The current part discusses the earliest developments in this field. It treats in detail the basic concepts, the crystal structure, some of the established indirect methods to determine the chemical composition, and the main mechanisms that lead to the manifestation of ferroelectricity. Emphasis has been put on the powdered version of this material: methods of synthesis, the accurate determination of its chemical composition, and its role in new and potential applications are discussed. Historical remarks can be found scattered throughout this contribution. Particularly, an old conception of the crystal structure thought as a derivative structure from one of higher symmetry by generalized distortion is here revived.

Fe-doped LiTaO3 thin films with a low and high Fe concentration (labeled as LTO:Fe-LC and LTO:Fe-HC, respectively) were deposited by magnetron sputtering from two home-made targets. The dopant directly influenced the crystalline structure of the LiTaO3 thin films, causing the contraction of the unit cell, which was related to the incorporation of Fe3+ ions into the LiTaO3 structure, which occupied Li positions. This substitution was corroborated by Raman spectroscopy, where the bands associated with Li-O bonds broadened in the spectra of the samples. Magnetic hysteresis loops, zero-field cooling curves, and field cooling curves were obtained in a vibrating sample magnetometer. The LTO:Fe-HC sample demonstrates superparamagnetic behavior with a blocking temperature of 100 K, mainly associated with the appearance of Fe clusters in the thin film. On the other hand, a room temperature ferromagnetic behavior was found in the LTO:Fe-LC layer where saturation magnetization (3.80 kAm−1) and magnetic coercivities were not temperature-dependent. Moreover, the crystallinity and morphology of the samples were evaluated by X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy, respectively.

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