Magnetic and electrical properties in Co-doped KNbO3 bulk samples

Multiferroic materials exhibit in the same phase at least two of the ferroic properties: ferroelectricity, ferromagnetism, and ferroelasticity, which may be coupled to each other. In this work, we investigated bulk materials with a nominal composition KNb0.95Co0.05O3 (KN:Co) fabricated by the standard solid-state reaction technique. X-ray diffraction analysis of the polycrystalline sample shows the respective polycrystalline perovskite structure of the KNbO3 phase with only small variation due to the Co doping. No secondary or segregated phases are observed. The values of the extracted lattice parameters are very close to those reported in the literature for KNbO3 with orthorhombic symmetry (a = 5.696 Å, b = 3.975 Å, and c = 5.721 Å) with space group Bmm2. Measurements of the electric polarization as a function of the electric field at different temperatures indicate the presence of ferroelectricity in our samples. Magnetic response of the pellets, detected by high sensitivity measurements of magnetization as a function of field, reveal weak ferromagnetic behavior in the doped sample at room temperature. Also, ferroelectric hysteresis loops were measured in a magnetic field of 1 T, applied perpendicular to the plane of the sample. Values of the remnant polarization as high as 7.19 and 7.69 μC/cm2 are obtained for 0 applied field and for 1 T, respectively; the value for the strength of the magnetoelectric coupling obtained is 6.9 %.