LAUSR

Single-phase perovskite structure 0.8BiFeO3–0.2SrTiO3 ceramics were synthesized by a modified sol-gel method. According to the scanning electron microscopy results, the grain sizes of as-prepared samples increased obviously as the annealing temperature rose. Compared with pure BiFeO3, superior multiferroic and dielectric properties were obtained i.e. remnant magnetization Mr = 0.10 emu/g with a maximum magnetic field of 50 kOe and maximum polarization Pmax = 8.738 μC/cm2 with an applied electric field of 50 kV/cm. Furthermore, the volcano-shape evolution of diffraction peaks and maximum magnetization with increasing sintering temperature indicate that appropriate annealing temperature has a remarkable influence on the enhancement of the multiferroic properties and dielectric performance of 0.8BiFeO3–0.2SrTiO3 ceramics. The annealing temperature that yields the most favorable multiferroic properties for the 0.8BiFeO3–0.2SrTiO3 solid solution ceramic is somewhere close to 1300 K.