Structural,dielectric, electrical and magnetic properties of chemicothermally synthesized material: BiCaFeCeO6

In this communication, detailed studies of structural, micro-structural, dielectric, electrical (impedance, modulus and conductivity) and magneto-electric characteristics of a chemico-thermally synthesized sample of a double perovskite bismuth calcium iron cerate (BiCaFeCeO₆) have been reported. Preliminary structural analysis of room temperature X-ray diffraction data shows orthorhombic structure of the material. The homogeneous distribution of the grains of different dimensions (shape, size, etc) with a small number of voids observed in the scanning electron micrograph suggests the formation of high-density sample. Detailed analysis of dielectric and impedance experimental data, collected at different frequency and temperatures, have provided many important characteristics of the material, such as (a) grains, grain boundaries, and electrode dependent capacitive and impedance parameters, (b) co-relation between the structure, micro-structure and physical properties and (c) the relaxation characteristics of the tested samples. The nature of frequency dependence of AC conductivity of the material obeys the Jonscher's universal power law. The temperature dependence of conductivity provides the conduction mechanism in the material. Detailed studies of field dependence of electric polarization, magnetization and magneto-electric coefficient at room temperature exhibit the multiferroic characteristics of the material.