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Giant Magnetoelectric coupling in Single Phase Pb(Zr0.20Ti0.80)0.70Pd0.30O3-δ Multiferroics

During the last fifteen years, multiferroic (MF) research communities have been searching for an alternative room temperature MF material with large magnetoelectric (ME) coupling for possible applications in high density electronic components, low heat dissipation memory and logic devices. We have studied Pb(Zr0.20Ti0.80)0.70Pd0.30O3-δ (PZTP30) system with an unusually large (30%) palladium occupancy in B site of PZT. This material exhibited a giant ME coupling coefficient ~0.36 mV/cm.Oe. Interestingly, this is the first time any room temperature single phase compound that showed ME trends, and magnitude similar to those in the well established mechanical strain-mediated ferroelectric and ferromagnetic composites; the latter ones are already in the commercial stage as nT/pT magnetic field sensors due to their large ME values. The presence of Pd in PZTP30 has been confirmed by XPS and XRF studies and assigned with related binding energies of Pd+2 and Pd+4 ions as 336.37 eV, 342.9 eV, and 337.53 eV, 343.43 eV, respectively, which may be the origin of room temperature magnetism in Pd substituted PZT ceramics. A sharp first order ferroelectric phase transition was observed at ~569 K (+/-5 K) that is confirmed from dielectric, Raman, and thermal analysis. Both ferromagnetic and ferroelectric orderings with large ME coupling were found above room temperature, a significant step forward in the development of single phase ME material with enhanced functionalities.