Structural, morphological, dielectric, electric and magnetic properties of ceramics for multifunctional applications

Herein, the standard solid-state reaction process was employed to synthesize the polycrystalline Ba_1-xDy_2x/3Ti_0.98Mn_0.02O₃ (x = 0.0000-0.0085) ceramics and each composition was sintered at 1200 °C for 3 h. The structural, morphological, electrical, and magnetic properties were carried out by the X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), impedance analyzer, and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) to investigate the influence of doping of Dy (low concentration) and Mn⁴⁺ in BaTiO₃ simultaneously. The XRD study confirmed the formation of perovskite structure with tetragonal symmetry of the prepared solid solution. The magnitude of the porosity (P%) decreased from 13.22 to 9.49 with increasing content of Dy and x = 0.0080 sample showed the lowest value. The mean grain size was estimated in the micrometer range, with values ranging from 0.5713 to 0.1457 μm. The highest grain size determined for the x = 0.0070 sample was 0.5713 μm. The Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) adsorption isotherm measurements were used to estimate the specific surface area; the result was 24.181 m²/g for x = 0.007 composition. For the compound with x = 0.0070 the maximum recorded dielectric constant was found to be 6 × 10³ at 10³ Hz. A relatively lower dielectric loss (<5 %) was observed. The Nyquist plot illustrated that only the grain boundary effect is significant for the conduction process in the studied compositions. The present solid solution revealed better magnetic results compared to other reported ceramics similar to the prepared constituents. The optimum value of saturation magnetization (0.371 emu/g) was obtained for x = 0.0080 composition. Among the synthesized Dy doped samples x = 0.0075 composition displayed a significant complex initial permeability ( $$ ). An enhanced relative quality factor (RQF) was seen with increasing frequency and the highest relative quality factor was noticed (>100) for the x = 0.0075 sample at 10⁸ Hz. The studied materials could be employed as an environmentally acceptable alternative to the hazardous lead (Pb)-based multiferroic substance.