Giant room temperature multiferroicity and domain structures in hot-press sintered Bi0.85Sm0.15Fe0.97Sc0.03O3 ceramics

Abstract In this work, Bi 0.85 Sm 0.15 Fe 0.97 Sc 0.03 O 3 ceramics were prepared by rapid hot pressing. Their crystal structures, dielectric and multiferroic properties were studied with an emphasis on microscopic ferroelectric and ferromagnetic domains characterizations. X-ray diffraction data revealed a diphase structure consisting of rhombohedra R 3 C and orthorhombic Pbnm . The ferroelectric polarization and magnetization measurements showed the ceramics， possessing simultaneously a giant remanent polarization of 42.36 μC/cm 2 and a high remanent magnetization of 0.134 emu/g at room temperature. Moreover, the regularly striped ferroelectric and ferromagnetic domain structures have been identified and analyzed by combining transmission electron microscopy and piezoresponse/magnetic force microscopy.