Synthesis, structure, and magnetic studies on the CoFe2O4-BiFeO3 nanocomposite films with different number of CoFe2O4 layers

;w The multiferroic heterostructures consisting of CoFe2O4 (CFO)-BiFeO3 (BFO) layers with increasing the number of CFO layers (2, 4,6 and 8) have been grown on LaNiO3 buffered Si (1 0 0) substrate by a simple sol-gel spin-coating route. X-ray diffraction (XRD) shows that the CFO and BFO phases have been successfully retained in the heterostructures and the films are polycrystalline. The high resolution transmission electron microscope (HRTEM) images show the clear interplanar distances and the interface between the two phases. The magnetization (M) versus field (H) loops reveal that, with increasing the CFO layers, the magnetization of CFO-BFO films will be enhanced. The M-s, M-r and H-c of the composite film with 8 CFO layers are measured to be the largest values of 1304 emu/cm(3), 562 emu/cm(3) and 2074 Oe, respectively. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.