Effect of equiproprotional substitution of Zn and Mn in BaTiO₃ ceramic—An index to multiferroic applications

This paper reports that ferromagnetism (FM) can be induced in ferroelectric barium titanate (BaTiO₃) ceramic with selection of appropriate substituents like Zn and Mn. High density polycrystalline samples of Zn and Mn substituted BaTiO₃ (Ba_1-xZn_xTi_1-xMn_xO₃, x=0, 0.02, 0.04, 0.06, 0.08 and 0.1) were prepared using slow step solid state sintering technique to study the effect of equiproprotional substituents on structural, ferroelectric and magnetic properties of BaTiO₃ (BTO). High precision electrical and magnetic measurements were carried out along with XRD, XPS, and SEM to understand and co-relate magnetic and ferroelectric hysteresis loop observed at room temperature with different values of 'x'. It is seen that ferroelectric hysteresis loop (P~E) is deteriorated (became lossy type) with the increase of Zn and Mn concentration. However, at x=0.1, the material showed the signature of room temperature ferromagnetism, which is an index for BTO to became a promising material for multiferroic applications. M~H loops observed in Zn and Mn substituted BTO are expected to be due to the formation of oxygen vacancies and exchange interaction induced magnetism.