Magnetostatic Interactions in Self-Assembled CoxNi1-xFe2O4/BiFeO3 Multiferroic Nanocomposites

Insights into Strain Engineering: From Ferroelectrics to Related Functional Materials and Beyond

Ferroelectrics have become indispensable components in various application fields, including information processing, energy harvesting, and electromechanical conversion, owing to their unique ability to exhibit electrically or mechanically switchable polarization. The distinct polar noncentrosymmetric lattices of ferroelectrics make them highly responsive to specific crystal structures. Even slight changes in the lattice can alter the polarization configuration and response to external fields. In this regard, strain engineering has emerged as a prevalent regulation approach that not only offers a versatile platform for structural and performance optimization within ferroelectrics but also unlocks boundless potential in various functional materials. In this review, we systematically summarize the breakthroughs in ferroelectric-based functional materials achieved through strain engineering and progress in method development. We cover research activities ranging from fundamental attributes to wide-ranging applications and novel functionalities ranging from electromechanical transformation in sensors and actuators to tunable dielectric materials and information technologies, such as transistors and nonvolatile memories. Building upon these achievements, we also explore the endeavors to uncover the unprecedented properties through strain engineering in related chemical functionalities, such as ferromagnetism, multiferroicity, and photoelectricity. Finally, through discussions on the prospects and challenges associated with strain engineering in the materials, this review aims to stimulate the development of new methods for strain regulation and performance boosting in functional materials, transcending the boundaries of ferroelectrics.

Interface-related phenomena in epitaxial complex oxide ferroics across different thin film platforms: opportunities and challenges

Interfaces in complex oxides give rise to fascinating new physical phenomena arising from the interconnected spin, lattice, charge and orbital degrees of freedom. Most commonly, interfaces are engineered in epitaxial superlattice films. Of growing interest also are epitaxial vertically aligned nanocomposite films where interfaces form by self-assembly. These two thin film forms offer different capabilities for materials tuning and have been explored largely separately from one another. Ferroics (ferroelectric, ferromagnetic, multiferroic) are among the most fascinating phenomena to be manipulated using interface effects. Hence, in this review we compare and contrast the ferroic properties that arise in these two different film forms, highlighting exemplary materials combinations which demonstrate novel, enhanced and/or emergent ferroic functionalities. We discuss the origins of the observed functionalities and propose where knowledge can be translated from one materials form to another, to potentially produce new functionalities. Finally, for the two different film forms we present a perspective on underexplored/emerging research directions.

Controlled evolution of three-dimensional magnetic states in strongly coupled cylindrical nanowire pairs

Cylindrical magnetic nanowires are promising systems for the development of three-dimensional spintronic devices. Here, we simulate the evolution of magnetic states during fabrication of strongly-coupled cylindrical nanowires with varying degrees of overlap. By varying the separation between wires, the relative strength of exchange and magnetostatic coupling can be tuned. Hence, we observe the formation of six fundamental states as a function of both inter-wire separation and wire height. In particular, two complex three-dimensional magnetic states, a 3D Landau Pattern and a Helical domain wall, are observed to emerge for intermediate overlap. These two emergent states show complex spin configurations, including a modulated domain wall with both Néel and Bloch character. The competition of magnetic interactions and the parallel growth scheme we follow (growing both wires at the same time) favours the formation of these anti-parallel metastable states. This works shows how the engineering of strongly coupled 3D nanostructures with competing interactions can be used to create complex spin textures.

Strain-Induced Magnetoelectric Coupling in Fe3O4/BaTiO3 Nanopillar Composites

Magnetoelectric coupling properties are limited to the substrate clamping effect in traditional ferroelectric/ferromagnetic heterostructures. Here, Fe₃O₄/BaTiO₃ nanopillar composites are successfully constructed. The well-ordered BaTiO₃ nanopillar arrays are prepared through template-assisted pulsed laser deposition. The Fe₃O₄ layer is coated on BaTiO₃ nanopillar arrays by atomic layer deposition. The nanopillar arrays and heterostructure are confirmed by scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. A large thermally driven magnetoelectric coupling coefficient of 395 Oe °C^-1 near the phase transition of BaTiO₃ (orthorhombic to rhombohedral) is obtained, indicating a strong strain-induced magnetoelectric coupling effect. The enhanced magnetoelectric coupling effect originated from the reduced substrate clamping effect and increased the interface area in nanopillar structures. This work opens a door toward cutting-edge potential applications in spintronic devices.

Combined Bottom-Up and Top-Down Approach for Highly Ordered One-Dimensional Composite Nanostructures for Spin Insulatronics

Engineering magnetic proximity effects-based devices requires developing efficient magnetic insulators. In particular, insulators, where magnetic phases show dramatic changes in texture on the nanometric level, could allow us to tune the proximity-induced exchange splitting at such distances. In this paper, we report the fabrication and characterization of highly ordered two-dimensional arrays of LaFeO3 (LFO)-CoFe2O4 (CFO) biphasic magnetic nanowires, grown on silicon substrates using a unique combination of bottom-up and top-down synthesis approaches. The regularity of the patterns was confirmed using atomic force microscopy and scanning electron microscopy techniques, whereas magnetic force microscopy images established the magnetic homogeneity of the patterned nanowires and absence of any magnetic debris between the wires. Transmission electron microscopy shows a close spatial correlation between the LFO and CFO phases, indicating strong grain-to-grain interfacial coupling, intrinsically different from the usual core-shell structures. Magnetic hysteresis loops reveal the ferrimagnetic nature of the composites up to room temperature and the presence of a strong magnetic coupling between the two phases, and electrical transport measurements demonstrate the strong insulating behavior of the LFO-CFO composite, which is found to be governed by Mott-variable range hopping conduction mechanisms. A shift in the Raman modes in the composite sample compared to those of pure CFO suggests the existence of strain-mediated elastic coupling between the two phases in the composite sample. Our work offers ordered composite nanowires with strong interfacial coupling between the two phases that can be directly integrated for developing multiphase spin insulatronic devices and emergent magnetic interfaces.

Progress in BiFeO3-based heterostructures: materials, properties and applications

BiFeO3-based heterostructures have attracted much attention for potential applications due to their room-temperature multiferroic properties, proper band gaps and ultrahigh ferroelectric polarization of BiFeO3, such as data storage, optical utilization in visible light regions and synapse-like function. Here, this work aims to offer a systematic review on the progress of BiFeO3-based heterostructures. In the first part, the optical, electric, magnetic, and valley properties and their interactions in BiFeO3-based heterostructures are briefly reviewed. In the second part, the morphologies of BiFeO3 and medium materials in the heterostructures are discussed. Particularly, in the third part, the physical properties and underlying mechanism in BiFeO3-based heterostructures are discussed thoroughly, such as the photovoltaic effect, electric field control of magnetism, resistance switching, and two-dimensional electron gas and valley characteristics. The fourth part illustrates the applications of BiFeO3-based heterostructures based on the materials and physical properties discussed in the second and third parts. This review also includes a future prospect, which can provide guidance for exploring novel physical properties and designing multifunctional devices.

The effect of magneto-crystalline anisotropy on the properties of hard and soft magnetic ferrite nanoparticles

Recent advances in the field of magnetic materials emphasize that the development of new and useful magnetic nanoparticles (NPs) requires an accurate and fundamental understanding of their collective magnetic behavior. Studies show that the magnetic properties are strongly affected by the magnetic anisotropy of NPs and by interparticle interactions that are the result of the collective magnetic behavior of NPs. Here we study these effects in more detail. For this purpose, we prepared Co _x Fe_{3- x} O₄ NPs, with x = 0-1 in steps of 0.2, from soft magnetic (Fe₃O₄) to hard magnetic (CoFe₂O₄) ferrite, with a significant variation of the magnetic anisotropy. The phase purity and the formation of crystalline NPs with a spinel structure were confirmed through Rietveld refinement. The effect of Co doping on structure, morphology and magnetic properties of Co _x Fe_{3- x} O₄ samples was investigated. In particular, we examined the interparticle interactions in the samples by δm graphs and Henkel plots that have not been reported before in literature. Finally, we studied the hyperthermia properties and observed that the heat efficiency of soft Fe₃O₄ is about 4 times larger than that of hard CoFe₂O₄ ferrite, which was attributed to the high coercive field of samples compared with the external field amplitude.

Multiferroic nanocomposite fabrication via liquid phase using anodic alumina template

We report a novel and inexpensive fabrication process of multiferroic nanocomposite via liquid phase using an anodic alumina template. The sol-gel spin-coating technique was used to coat the template with ferrimagnetic CoFe₂O₄. By dissolving the template with NaOH aqueous solution, a unique nanotube array structure of CoFe₂O₄ was obtained. The CoFe₂O₄ nanotube arrays were filled with, and sandwiched in, ferroelectric BaTiO₃ layers by a sol-gel spin-coating method to obtain the composite. Its multiferroicity was confirmed by measuring the magnetic and dielectric hysteresis loops.

Thermal Driven Giant Spin Dynamics at Three-Dimensional Heteroepitaxial Interface in Ni0.5Zn0.5Fe2O4/BaTiO3-Pillar Nanocomposites

Traditional magnetostrictive/piezoelectric laminated composites rely on the two-dimensional interface that transfers stress/strain to achieve the large magnetoelectric (ME) coupling, nevertheless, they suffer from the theoretical limitation of the strain effect and of the substrate clamping effect in real ME applications. In this work, 3D NZFO/BTO-pillar nanocomposite films were grown on SrTiO₃ by template-assisted pulsed laser deposition, where BaTiO₃ (BTO) nanopillars appeared in an array with distinct phase transitions as the cores were covered by NiZn ferrite (NZFO) layer. The perfect 3D heteroepitaxial interface between BTO and NZFO phases can be identified without any edge dislocations, which allows effective strain transfer at the 3D interface. The 3D structure nanocomposites enable the strong two magnon scattering (TMS) effect that enhances ME coupling at the interface and reduces the clamping effect by strain relaxation. Thereby, a large FMR field shift of 1866 Oe in NZFO/BTO-pillar nanocomposite was obtained at the TMS critical angle near the BTO nanopillars phase transition of 255 K.

Simple synthesis and characterization of vertically aligned Ba0.7Sr0.3TiO3-CoFe2O4 multiferroic nanocomposites from CoFe2 nanopillar arrays

A new strategy to elaborate (1-3) type multiferroic nanocomposites with controlled dimensions and vertical alignment is presented. The process involves a supported nanoporous alumina layer as a template for growth of free-standing and vertically aligned CoFe₂ nanopillars using a room temperature pulsed electrodeposition process. Ba_0.70Sr_0.30TiO₃-CoFe₂O₄ multiferroic nanocomposites were grown through direct deposition of Ba_0.7Sr_0.3TiO₃ films by radio-frequency sputtering on the top surface of the pillar structure, with in situ simultaneous oxidation of CoFe₂ nanopillars. The vertically aligned multiferroic nanocomposites were characterized using various techniques for their structural and physical properties. The large interfacial area between the ferrimagnetic and ferroelectric phases leads to a magnetoelectric voltage coefficient as large as ∼320 mV cm^-1 Oe^-1 at room temperature, reaching the highest values reported so far for vertically architectured nanocomposite systems. This simple method has great potential for large-scale synthesis of many other hybrid vertically aligned multiferroic heterostructures.

Discovery of Enhanced Magnetoelectric Coupling through Electric Field Control of Two-Magnon Scattering within Distorted Nanostructures

Electric field control of dynamic spin interactions is promising to break through the limitation of the magnetostatic interaction based magnetoelectric (ME) effect. In this work, electric field control of the two-magnon scattering (TMS) effect excited by in-plane lattice rotation has been demonstrated in a La_0.7Sr_0.3MnO₃ (LSMO)/Pb(Mn_2/3Nb_1/3)-PbTiO₃ (PMN-PT) (011) multiferroic heterostructure. Compared with the conventional strain-mediated ME effect, a giant enhancement of ME effect up to 950% at the TMS critical angle is precisely determined by angular resolution of the ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) measurement. Particularly, a large electric field modulation of magnetic anisotropy (464 Oe) and FMR line width (401 Oe) is achieved at 173 K. The electric-field-controllable TMS effect and its correlated ME effect have been explained by electric field modulation of the planar spin interactions triggered by spin-lattice coupling. The enhancement of the ME effect at various temperatures and spin dynamics control are promising paradigms for next-generation voltage-tunable spintronic devices.