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Structural, dielectric, ferroelectric (FE), 119Sn Mössbauer, and specific heat measurements of polycrystalline BaTi1–xSnxO3 (x = 0% to 15%) ceramics are reported. Phase purity and homogeneous phase formation with Sn doping is confirmed from x-ray diffraction and 119Sn Mössbauer measurements. With Sn doping, the microstructure is found to change significantly. Better ferroelectric properties at room temperature, i.e., increased remnant polarization (38% more) and very low field switchability (225% less) are observed for x = 5% sample as compared to other samples and the results are explained in terms of grain size effects. With Sn doping, merging of all the phase transitions into a single one is observed for x ≥ 10% and for x = 5%, the tetragonal to orthorhombic transition temperature is found close to room temperature. As a consequence better electro-caloric effects are observed for x = 5% sample and therefore is expected to satisfy the requirements for non-toxic, low energy (field) and room temperature based applications.

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Magnetic behavior of the pseudo-binary alloy Hf(1-x)Ta(x)Fe(2) has been studied, for which the zero-field ferromagnetic (FM) to antiferromagnetic (AFM) transition temperature is tuned near to T = 0 K. Our studies show that such composition lies around x = 0.230. Detailed magnetization studies on x = 0.225, 0.230 and 0.235 show thermomagnetic irreversibility at low temperature due to kinetic arrest of the first-order AFM-FM transition. All three compositions studied show a reentrant transition in the zero-field-cooled warming curve and non-monotonic variation of the upper critical field. The region in H-T space where these features of kinetic arrest manifest themselves increases with increasing Ta concentration.

The nature of the magnetic transition, critical scaling of magnetization, and magnetocaloric effect in Mn 1+x fe 4−x Si 3 (x = 0 to 1) are studied in detail. Our measurements show no thermal hysteresis across the magnetic transition for the parent compound which is in contrast with the previous report and corroborate the second order nature of the transition. The magnetic transition could be tuned continuously from 328 K to 212 K with Mn substitution at the Fe site. The Mn substitution leads to a linear increase in the unit cell volume and a slight reduction in the effective moment. A detailed critical analysis of the magnetization data for x = 0.0 and 0.2 is performed in the critical regime using the modified Arrott plots, Kouvel-Fisher plot, universal curve scaling, and scaling analysis of magnetocaloric effect. The magnetization isotherms follow modified Arrott plots with critical exponent (β  0.308, γ  1.448, and δ  5.64) for the parent compound (x = 0.0) and (β  0.304, γ  1.445, and δ  5.64) for x = 0.2. The Kouvel-Fisher and universal scaling plots of the magnetization isotherms further confirm the reliability of our critical analysis and values of the exponents. These values of the critical exponents are found to be same for both the parent and doped samples which do not fall under any of the standard universality classes. The exchange interaction decays as J(r) ~ r −3.41 following the renormalization group theory and the observed critical exponents correspond to lattice dimensionality d = 2, spin dimensionality n = 1, and the range of interaction σ = 1.41. This value of σ(<2) indicates long-range interaction between magnetic spins. A reasonable magnetocaloric effect ΔS m  −6.67 J/Kg-K and −5.84 J/Kg-K for x = 0.0 and 0.2 compounds, respectively, with a huge relative cooling power (RCP ~ 700 J/Kg) for 9 T magnetic field change is observed. The universal scaling of magnetocaloric effect further mimics the second order character of the magnetic transition. The obtained critical exponents from the critical analysis of magnetocaloric effect agree with the values deduced from the magnetic isotherm analysis.