Room-temperature Ferroelectricity and Ferromagnetism in Double Perovskite Bi2CoMnO6 Ceramics Synthesized Using Sol–Gel Combustion Technique

This paper reports the coexistence of room-temperature ferroelectricity and ferromagnetism in double perovskite Bi2CoMnO6 ceramics synthesized by using the sol–gel combustion technique. X-ray diffraction analysis shows that the pure phase formation of Bi2CoMnO6 takes place in the sample calcined at 600 °C. XRD data is refined using Rietveld analysis. The morphology of the as-prepared ceramics was studied using SEM micrographs. The origin of multiferroic configuration in this compound is due to coupling of the long-range electric field of Bi 6s2 lone pair electrons with long-range spin order of Co–O–Mn, Co–O–Co and Mn–O–Mn orbitals. Ferroelectricity is also confirmed by positive-up and negative-down measurements. A remanent magnetization of Mr 7.4 × 10−3 emu/g and remanent polarization 2Pr = 0.33 μC/cm2 were observed.