LAUSR

Abstract Co-existent ferroelectric and magnetic ordering at room temperature in multiferroics has generated significant interest for potential applications in low-power sensors, transducers, and memory devices. Despite tremendous efforts centered on site-substitution in BiFeO3 to attain enhanced functionality, local probing of multiferroic domain dynamics with dopant concentration remains overlooked. Here we report a detailed investigation on ferroelectric and magnetic domain mapping of Bi1−XCeXFeO3; 0 ≤ X ≤ 0.2 (BCFOX) thin films and discussed concentration-dependent behavior of piezo-response switching, piezo-actuation butterfly-loop and phase-hysteresis, and magneto-dielectric coupling. Large piezo-response amplitude change of 30 mV and near to complete phase reversal of ~150° together with homogeneous magnetic domain distribution and an enhanced magneto-dielectric coupling coefficient of 2.15% at 0.3 T unveils improved ferroelectric ordering in polycrystalline BCFO0.12 thin film. We believe, our findings will develop a comprehensive understanding of sensitive force microscopy technique for the custom-made advancement of BiFeO3 based multiferroic family.