Advanced Materials, Vol.13, No.7, 487-487, 2001
A ferroelectric ferromagnet composed of (PLZT)(x)(BiFeO3)(1-x) solid solution
(PLZT)(x)(BiFeO3)(1-x) solid solutions exhibiting both ferromagnetism and ferroelectricity have been prepared by a solid-state reaction. Their structures are cubic in the range 0 < x 1. For x = 0.10-0.45 the materials simultaneously show magnetic and ferroelectric hysteresis loops at room temperature. The observed spontaneous magnetization is due to the weak ferromagnetism present in the system, which originates from the cant of the antiparallel spins of Fe3+ ions through the structural distortion from rhombic to cubic caused by the incorporation of PLZT.