Study of the structural and magnetic phase-transitions and multiferroic properties in BiFeO3-Ba0.95Ca0.05TiO3 solid solutions
Highlights: • The detailed structural analysis has been done for (1-x) BiFeO{sub 3}-xBa{sub 0.95}Ca{sub 0.05}TiO{sub 3} (0.1 ≤ x ≤ 0.9). • The detailed magnetic behavior has been studied for (1-x) BiFeO{sub 3}-xBa{sub 0.95}Ca{sub 0.05}TiO{sub 3} (0.1 ≤ x ≤ 0.9). • The dielectric constant (ε') and the dielectric loss (ε'') versus frequency curves have been fitted by using Cole-Cole dispersion formula and non-Debye relaxation behavior has been found. • The weak magnetodielectric response (MD) has been found. • The non saturating P-E loops have been found for 0.7 ≤ x ≤ 0.9 samples. - Abstract: We synthesized (1-x) BiFeO{sub 3}-x Ba{sub 0.95}Ca{sub 0.05}TiO{sub 3} solid solutions for 0.1 ≤ x ≤ 0.9, using a solid-state-reaction. The XRD analysis reveals that a composition-driven rhombohedral-to-cubic and a cubic-to-tetragonal phase-transition occur at x ≈ 0.4 and x ≈ 0.7, respectively. The experiments show that BaCaTiO{sub 3}-substitution suppresses the spiral spin-structure, which leads to net magnetization. The samples have been found to exhibit magnetic order for 0.1 ≤ x ≤ 0.7 and paramagnetic behavior for x ≥ 0.8. The electrical conductivity increases with increasing frequency of the applied electric field. The dielectric measurements suggest a non-Debye type relaxation. The samples show magneto-dielectric response (MD) upto x = 0.5, with the highest MD of 11.61% at 10 kHz for x = 0.3. The maximum attainable remanent polarization (P{sub r}) ∼ 5.24 μC/cm{sup 2} was observed for x = 0.7.