Multiferroic
nanocomposites with grain to grain epitaxy-like feature
comprising of Ba0.85Ca0.15Zr0.1Ti0.9O3 (BCZT)/CoFe2O4 (CFO)/BCZT
layers were deposited on Pt/TiO2/SiO2/Si substrates
by pulsed laser deposition. To enhance strain coupling between the
phases, vertically ordered continuous nanostructures with grain to
grain epitaxy-like feature was achieved by careful choice of material
and optimized growth conditions. The columnar grains between the BCZT/CFO
and CFO/BCZT interface were optimized such that every column grew
in an epitaxy-like growth with grain-over grain crystallographic relation
even at nanoscale. Grain to grain epitaxy was evident from TEM analysis
(inverse FFT analysis). Elastic strain coupling present between various
vibrational modes of BCZT and CFO was confirmed by cross-sectional
Raman studies. Ferroelectric polarization of 10 μC/cm2 and out-of-plane remnant magnetization (40emu/cc) was observed in
the columnar structure. The morphologically coherent columnar structure
of both the phases and the epitaxial registry at the interface of
the composite significantly enhanced the strain coupling between the
ferroelectric/ferromagnetic phases, which is evident from the magneto–dielectric
studies with a 21% change in dielectric constant and the magneto–electric(ME)
coefficients (620–840 mV/cm·Oe). The ME values indicate
the existence of high elastic strain coupling in continuous columnar
structures compared with granular structures with an incoherent interface.
Enhanced magneto–electric coupling in these types of nanostructures
can be of great potential in realizing devices like actuators and
sensors.