Synthesis of oriented BiFeO3-PbTiO3 by molten salt method

The solid solution between bismuth ferrite and lead titanate, is a perovskite structure either tetragonally or rhombohedrally distorted lattice. It exhibits antiferromagnetic and ferroelectric properties at room temperature. xBiFeO
₃
-(1-x)PbTiO
₃
or BFPT possesses a morphotropic phase boundary (MPB) between the rhombohedral and tetragonal forms around x=0.7, accompany with a spontaneous strain of 18% on the tetragonal side of the boundary. BFPT crystallographically textured ceramic could have coupling between its ferroelectric and magnetic orders near the MPB. The approach taken here was to make textured BFPT by employing the molten salt method. PbBi
₄
Ti
₄
O
₁₅
have been used as precursor. Samples have been characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and polarization/strain-field measurements. The materials obtained are ferromagnetic, with a M
_r
= 1.01 emu/g. However some iron rich secondary phases were obtained which potentially contribute in the obtained ferromagnetic results. Due to the high electric coercive field, it was not possible to obtain saturated PE loops, or strain field butterfly loops. However, an electrostrictive strain of 0.017% was achieved.