Strain-mediated magnetoelectric (ME) coupling effect is expected in self-assembly heterostructures engineered by ferroelectric and ferromagnetic materials, contributing to the enhanced overall magnetoelectric effect. Microstructures as well as the connectivity configuration are considered to play a significant role in achieving efficient magnetoelectric properties. Different from the conventional (1-3) and (2-2) type composite films, we fabricate BiFeO3-CoFe2O4 (BFO-CFO) composite thin films with a novel quasi (0-3) type connectivity via a dual-target pulsed laser deposition process. The self-assembly growth mechanism has been studied, which demonstrates that the perovskite (BFO) matrix segments the connectivity of spinel (CFO) resulting in a quasi (0-3) composite. Direct observation of ferroelectric domain wall motion under external magnetic fields proves a strong magnetoelectric coupling effect in these (0-3) thin films. Our preliminary findings reveal the promising application potential of this new structure as multiferroic domain wall devices.
Keywords: domain wall motion; epitaxial growth; nanocomposites; piezoresponse force microscopy; self-assemble.