Synthesis and structural studies of lead-free (Na0.5Bi0.5)0.92Ba0.08TiO3 - Co0.6Zn0.4Fe1.7Mn0.3O4 magnetoelectric composites

Two phase Lead-free magnetoelectric composites with the formula (1-x) (Na0.5Bi0.5)0.92Ba0.08TiO3-(x) Co0.6Zn0.4Fe1.7Mn0.3O4 [(1-x) NBBT-xCZFMO] (where x = 0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.5, 0.6, 0.8 and 1 mol%) have been synthesized through conventional solid-state reaction method. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) methods have been employed for structural and morphology studies on the synthesized samples. XRD and SEM studies revealed that the single-phase synthesis of NBBT & CZFMO and the existence of both the parent phases in the composites. Here, ferroelectric NBBT formed in tetragonal crystal structure with P4bm space group, whereas ferrite CZFMO crystallized in Cubic structure with Fd-3m space group. Raman spectroscopy is also carried out on all the synthesized samples. In case of NBBT six Raman active modes are observed between wave numbers from 100 cm−1 to 1000 cm−1 and in accord with the earlier reports. Whereas, when it comes to CZFMO, five modes are observed in the region of 100 cm−1 to 1000 cm−1 at 162 cm−1, 309 cm−1, 472 cm−1, 620 cm−1 and 690 cm−1. The composites contain the Raman peaks of both NBBT and CZFMO. The shifting of the Raman peaks observed in the composites indicates the presence of strain at the interface of NBBT and CZFMO phases. The results are discussed in detail.