Effect of Previous Milling of Precursors on Magnetoelectric Effect in Multiferroic $${\mathrm{Bi}_{5}\mathrm{Ti}_{3}\mathrm{FeO}_{15}}$$ Ceramic.

$$\mathrm{Bi}_{5}\mathrm{Ti}_{3}\mathrm{FeO}_{15}$$ magnetoelectric (ME) ceramics have been synthesized and investigated. The ME effect can be described as an induced electric polarization under an external magnetic field or an induced magnetization under an external electric field. The materials in the ME effect are called ME materials, and they are considered to be a kind of new promising materials for sensors, processors, actuators, and memory systems. Multiferroics, the materials in which both ferromagnetism and ferroelectricity can coexist, are the prospective candidates which can potentially host the gigantic ME effect. $$\mathrm{Bi}_{5}\mathrm{Ti}_{3}\mathrm{FeO}_{15}$$ , an Aurivillius compound, was synthesized by sintering a mixture of $$\mathrm{Bi}_{2}\mathrm{O}_{3}, \mathrm{Fe}_{2}\mathrm{O}_{3}$$ , and $$\mathrm{TiO}_{2}$$ oxides. The precursor materials were prepared in a high-energy attritorial mill for (1, 5, and 10) h. The orthorhombic $$\mathrm{Bi}_{5}\mathrm{Ti}_{3}\mathrm{FeO}_{15}$$ ceramics were obtained by a solid-state reaction process at 1313 K. The ME voltage coefficient ( $$\alpha _\mathrm{ME}$$ ) was measured using the dynamic lock-in method. The highest ME voltage coefficient ( $$\alpha _\mathrm{ME} = 8.28\,\text{ mV }{\cdot }\text{ cm }^{-1}{\cdot }\text{ Oe }^{-1})$$ is obtained for the sample milled for 1 h at $$H_\mathrm{DC }= 4$$ Oe (1 Oe = 79.58 $$\text{ A }{\cdot }\text{ m }^{-1})$$ . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]