Academic literature on the topic 'Magneto-electric (ME) multiferroic materials'

The term "Multiferroic" is coined for a material possessing at least two ferroic orders in the same or composite phase (ferromagnetic, ferroelectric, ferroelastic); if the first two ferroic orders are linearly coupled together it is known as a magnetoelectric (ME) multiferroic. Two kinds of ME multiferroic memory devices are under extensive research based on the philosophy of "switching of polarization by magnetic fields and magnetization by electric fields." Successful switching of ferroic orders will provide an extra degree of freedom to create more logic states. The "switching of polarization by magnetic fields" is useful for magnetic field sensors and for memory elements if, for example, polarization switching is via a very small magnetic field from a coil underneath an integrated circuit. The electric control of magnetization is suitable for nondestructive low-power, high-density magnetically read and electrically written memory elements. If the system possesses additional features, such as propagating magnon (spin wave) excitations at room temperature, additional functional applications may be possible. Magnon-based logic (magnonic) systems have been initiated by various scientists, and prototype devices show potential for future complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology. Discovery of high polarization, magnetization, piezoelectric, spin waves (magnon), magneto-electric, photovoltaic, exchange bias coupling, etc. make bismuth ferrite, BiFeO3, one of the widely investigated materials in this decade. Basic multiferroic features of well known room temperature single phase BiFeO3in bulk and thin films have been discussed. Functional magnetoelectric (ME) properties of some lead-based solid solution perovskite multiferroics are presented and these systems also have a bright future. The prospects and the limitations of the ME-based random access memory (MERAM) are explained in the context of recent discoveries and state of the art research.

Multiferroic materials belong to the sub-group of ferroics possessing two or more ferroic orders in the same phase. Aizu first coined the term multiferroics in 1969. Of late, several multiferroic materials’ unique and robust characteristics have shown great potential for various applications. Notably, the coexisting magnetic and electrical ordering results in the Magnetoelectric effect (ME), wherein the electrical polarization can be manipulated by magnetic fields and magnetization by electric fields. Currently, more significant interests lie in significantly enhancing the ME coupling facilitating the realization of Spintronic devices, which makes use of the transport phenomenon of spin-polarized electrons. On the other hand, the magnetoelectric coupling is also pivotal in magnetic memory devices wherein the application of small electric voltage manipulates the magnetic properties of the device. This review gives a brief overview of magnetoelectric coupling in Bismuth ferrite and approaches to achieve higher magnetoelectric coupling and device applications.

The prediction of magnetoelectric (ME) coupling in nano-scaled multiferroic composites is significant for nano-devices. In this paper, we propose a nonlinear multi-field coupling model for ME effect in layered multiferroic nanocomposites based on the surface stress model, strain gradient theory and nonlinear magneto-elastic-thermal coupling constitutive relation. With this novel model, the influence of external fields on strain gradient and flexoelectricity is discussed for the first time. Meanwhile, a comprehensive investigation on the influence of size-dependent parameters and multi-field conditions on ME performance is made. The numerical results show that ME coupling is remarkably size-dependent as the thickness of the composites reduces to nanoscale. Especially, the ME coefficient is enhanced by either surface effect or flexoelectricity. The strain gradient in composites at the nano-scale is significant and influenced by the external stimuli at different levels via the change in materials’ properties. More importantly, due to the nonlinear multi-field coupling behavior of ferromagnetic materials, appropriate compressive stress and temperature may improve the value of ME coefficient and reduce the required magnetic field. This paper provides a theoretical basis to analyze and evaluate multi-field coupling characteristics of nanostructure-based ME devices.

Multiferroic composite thin films of ferroelectrics and magnets have attracted ever-increasing interest in most recent years. In this review, magnetoelectric (ME) responses as well as their underlying ME coupling mechanisms in such multiferroic composite thin films are discussed, oriented by their potential applications in novel ME devices. Among them, the direct ME response, i.e., magnetic-field control of polarization, can be exploited for micro-sensor applications (sensing magnetic field, electric current, light, etc.), mainly determined by a strain-mediated coupling interaction. The converse ME response, i.e., electric-field modulation of magnetism, offers great opportunities for new potential devices for spintronics and in data storage applications. A series of prototype ME devices based on both direct and converse ME responses have been presented. The review concludes with a remark on the future possibilities and scientific challenges in this field.

Multiferroic materials with good magneto-electric coupling are of great interest due to their enormous applications in the field of spintronic devices. Magnetoelectric (ME) gallium ferrite is an interesting material due to its room temperature (RT) piezoelectricity and near RT ferrimagnetism along with significant ME coupling (10−11 s/m at 4.2 K). The work aims to increase the magnetic transition temperature (TC) of the material above RT so that the material can have strong ME coupling at room temperature and can be implemented for practical applications. Several earlier reports have shown the magnetic transition temperature of Ga2−xFexO3 increases with higher Fe contents. Hence, we chose to study the properties of Ga2−xFexO3 (GFO) only for x = 1.2. Y3Fe5O12 (YIG) is another material that is RT ferromagnet material with very high resistivity (∼1012 Ω cm). In this work, by forming a GFO-YIG composite with only a 10% concentration of YIG, the phase transition temperature is increased beyond room temperature from ∼289 K for GFO to ∼309 K for 0.9 GFO-0.1 YIG. The remnant magnetization is also enhanced from 0.211 emu/g to 2.82 emu/g reporting a magnetization of ∼8.2 emu/g at 30 kOe.

Multiferroic (MF)-magnetoelectric (ME) composites, which integrate magnetic and ferroelectric materials, exhibit a higher operational temperature (above room temperature) and superior (several orders of magnitude) ME coupling when compared to single-phase multiferroic materials. Room temperature control and the switching of magnetic properties via an electric field and electrical properties by a magnetic field has motivated research towards the goal of realizing ultralow power and multifunctional nano (micro) electronic devices. Here, some of the leading applications for magnetoelectric composites are reviewed, and the mechanisms and nature of ME coupling in artificial composite systems are discussed. Ways to enhance the ME coupling and other physical properties are also demonstrated. Finally, emphasis is given to the important open questions and future directions in this field, where new breakthroughs could have a significant impact in transforming scientific discoveries to practical device applications, which can be well-controlled both magnetically and electrically.

Multiferroic magnetoelectric (ME) materials with the capability of coupling magnetization and electric polarization have been providing diverse routes towards functional devices and thus attracting ever-increasing attention. The typical device applications include sensors, energy harvesters, magnetoelectric random access memories, tunable microwave devices and ME antennas etc. Among those application scenarios, ME sensors are specifically focused in this review article. We begin with an introduction of materials development and then recent advances in ME sensors are overviewed. Engineering applications of ME sensors are followed and typical scenarios are presented. Finally, several remaining challenges and future directions from the perspective of sensor designs and real applications are included.

Multiphase magnetoelectric (ME) composites deposited on flexible substrates have been widely studied, which can respond to ambient mechanical, magnetic, and electric field excitations. This paper reports an investigation of flexible FeCoSiB/ZnO thin-film generators for low-frequency energy harvesting based on three substrates. Both hard substrate Si and flexible substrates (Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and Polyimide (PI)) are adopted to make a comparison of energy conversion efficiency. For the single ME laminate, a PET-based flexible ME generator presents the best ME coupling performance with an average coupling voltage output of ~0.643 mV and power output of ~41.3 nW under the alternating magnetic field of 40 Oe and 20 Hz. The corresponding ME coupling coefficient reaches the value of 321.5 mV/(cm·Oe) for this micrometer scale harvester. Flexible ME modules with double cantilevered ME generators are further designed and fabricated. When two PET-based generators are connected in series, the average voltage output and power are ~0.067 mV and ~0.447 nW, respectively. Although the energy harvested by ME thin-film generators is much smaller than bulk multiferroic materials, it proves the feasibility of using flexible FeCoSiB/ZnO generators for harvesting ambient magnetic energy and supplying sustainable electronic devices in the future.

The magnetic, electric, and optical properties in Tb-doped BiFeO3 nanoparticles as functions of size and doping concentrations were investigated using a microscopic model, taking into account both linear and quadratic magnetoelectric (ME) coupling. We observed improved multiferroic properties and band-gap tuning. The magnetization and polarization increased with the decreased nanoparticle size and increased Tb-doping substitution x. The Neel temperature remained nearly unchanged whereas the Curie temperature was reduced with the increased x. There was doping-induced ME coupling. The dielectric constant is discussed as a function of the size, doping, and the magnetic field. The band gap decreased with the decreased size or increased Tb dopants due to competing effects of the compressive strain, oxygen defects on the surface, and Coulomb interactions. Increasing the Tb dopants and decreasing the nanoparticle size improved the ME effect.

AbstractThe aim of the present work was to study magnetoelectric effect (ME) in (BiFeO3)x-(BaTiO3)1-x solid solutions in terms of technological conditions applied in the samples fabrication process. The rapidly growing interest in these materials is caused by their multiferroic behaviour, i.e. coexistence of both electric and magnetic ordering. It creates possibility for many innovative applications, e.g. in steering the magnetic memory by electric field and vice versa. The investigated samples of various chemical compositions (i.e. x = 0.7, 0.8 and 0.9) were prepared by the solid-state sintering method under three sets of technological conditions differing in the applied temperature and soaking time. Measurements of the magnetoelectric voltage coefficient αME were performed using a dynamic lock-in technique. The highest value of αME was observed for 0.7BiFeO3-0.3BaTiO3 solid solution sintered at the highest temperature (T = 1153 K) after initial electrical poling despite that the soaking time was reduced 10 times in this case.

The multiferroics are an important class of multifunctional material which simultaneously possess spontaneous ferroelectric polarization and magnetic ordering. If there exists a coupling between the ferroelectricity and the magnetic ordering, the materials are known as magneto electric (ME) multiferroic materials. The coupling between the magnetic and electric order parameters allows to tune the magnetic properties by an electric field and vice versa. Multiferroic materials are promising candidate for designing new spintronic devices, advanced sensors, high density ferroelectric memory devices and the emerging category of four-state memory devices. In multiferroic memory devices, data can be written electrically using its ferroelectric property and can be read magnetically without causing any Joule heating. Depending on the origin of ferroelectricity and magnetic orderings, multiferroics can be divided into two categories: type I and type II multiferroics. The type I multiferroics have different sources of ferroelectricity and magnetism. On the other hand, ferroelectricity is induced by the magnetic ordering in type II multiferroic materials and they have a strong ME coupling. However, even after extensive investigations into different families of compounds, a multiferroic material with high-enough polarization and magnetization suitable for practical applications has not been realized yet. In order to overcome this problem, composite multiferroics are designed by combining a ferroelectric and a ferromagnetic material. Recently composite multiferroics have drawn significant attention due to its enormous design flexibility which can be used for a wide range of applications. In this thesis, a thorough study of the structural, electrical, and magnetic properties of multiferroic BiFeO3 and CuO epitaxial thin films is carried out. BiFeO3 is a type I multiferroic material with a perovskite distorted rhombohedral (R3c) crystal structure. It is ferroelectric (TC = 1123 K) and G-type antiferromagnetic (TN = 643 K) at room temperature. Antiferromagnetism in BiFeO3 arises from the Fe sublattice having d5 configuration whereas ferroelectricity appears due to the directional orientation of 6s lone pair electrons of the Bi3+ ion. We observed that the crystal structure of BiFeO3 thin film gets altered depending on lattice misfit stress caused by the substrate which in turn modifies its magnetic properties through strong magneto-structural coupling. Furthermore, a signature of magneto-(di)electric coupling and exchange bias effect were observed between the BiFeO3 and SrRuO3 layers of a heterostructure. On the other hand, CuO is a type II multiferroic material where ferroelectricity is generated between 213 K and 230 K due to incommensurate spiral magnetic spin ordering along its crystallographic ‘b’ axis. We found that CuO thin films can be grown in the direction of its static polarization axis by proper choice of substrate and the temperature dependent magnetic properties of CuO thin films vary depending on its crystallographic orientations due to strong magneto-structural coupling. Chapter 1 provides a general introduction to various physical phenomena, such as ferroelectricity, ferromagnetism, antiferromagnetism, multiferroicity, magneto-electric coupling, and different magnetic interactions, like Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction, and exchange bias effect. Basic concepts of impedance spectroscopy, dielectrics and perovskite structures are also discussed. General introductions of different materials, which are studied in the thesis, and the motivation of choosing them are incorporated at the end of the chapter. Chapter 2 contains the description of thin film growth technique and different steps of device fabrication process. Different characterization techniques, the instruments used for the characterizations and the working-principle of those instruments have been summarized in the chapter. Chapter 3 focuses on the variation of magnetic properties and crystal structure with the thickness of BiFeO3 thin films. BiFeO3 thin films of different thicknesses, ranging from 16 nm to 60 nm, were grown on (001) SrTiO3 substrate by PLD technique. Detailed x-ray diffraction studies show that the 16 nm, 20 nm and 30 nm films have “R-like” crystallographic phase with an out-of-plane lattice parameter of 4.06 Å whereas the 45 nm and 60 nm films have “R-like” and ‘T-like” crystallographic phases simultaneously. The “T-like” phase has an out-of-plane lattice parameter of 4.65 Å and a c/a ratio of 1.25, resembling a tetragonal crystal structure. Off-specular reciprocal space mapping and azimuthal φ scan show that the “T-like” phase deviates from an ideal tetragonal crystal structure by a monoclinic tilt. The occurrence of the “T-like” phase is associated with the formation of a very thin layer of parasitic Bi2O3 phase which appears in between two film-thicknesses of 30 nm and 45 nm and BiFeO3 grows in “T-like” phase thereafter. High lattice mismatch between Bi2O3 phase and BiFeO3 phase causes more distorted unit cell in “T-like” phase with a high c/a ration. Parasitic Bi2O3 phase appears because of slightly higher partial oxygen pressure used during the growth which prevents the formation of the parasitic ferrimagnetic γFe2O3 phase in the films. Moreover, our XPS studies confirmed that the films contain Fe3+ only without any trace of Fe2+ within a resolution of few atomic percentages and the magnetic signals measured in our experiments are entirely from the BiFeO3 phase. The saturation magnetizations of the films were found to increase with decreasing thickness. At room temperature, the saturation magnetization of a 16 nm-thick BiFeO3 thin film is 87 emu/cc but it goes down to 9 emu/cc when the thickness increases to 60 nm. Moreover, it was observed that the 16 nm thick film is magnetically more anisotropic in comparison to the 60 nm thick film and there is an apparent out-of-plane magnetic hard axis in the 16 nm film. Summarizing the results obtained from the films with different thicknesses, it can be concluded that the vanishing magnetic anisotropy is related to the structural transformation of the film. Chapter 4 provides a detailed study of the variation of magnetic properties of a BiFeO3 thin film with its crystal structure. BiFeO3 thin films of different thicknesses were grown on orthorhombic (001) NdGaO3 substrate. In-depth x-ray diffraction studies and off-specular reciprocal space mapping show that a 15 nm thick BiFeO3 film grows with monoclinic crystal symmetry (Cm) with an out-of-plane lattice parameter of 4.187 Å on the NdGaO3 substrate. The crystal structure was further verified by the TEM studies which showed a good agreement with the results obtained from x-ray diffraction studies. To probe the ferroelectric nature of the monoclinic BiFeO3 film, piezo response force microscopy was performed. It was found that the oppositely oriented ferroelectric domains have 180° phase contrast and a phase vs. voltage hysteresis loop gets generated when the domains are switched between two antiparallel directions. DC magnetic measurements at room temperature showed that the saturation magnetization of the 15 nm film with Cm crystal symmetry is as high as ~250 emu/cc. Experimental evidence confirmed that the films are free from all magnetic parasitic phases and the high saturation magnetization comes solely from the BiFeO3 phase. For comparative study, BiFeO3 films of similar thickness were deposited on (001) SrTiO3 under identical conditions which grew in “R-like” crystal structures. We saw that “R-like” BiFeO3 films have saturation magnetization 2.5 times lower (~100 emu/cc) than that of the film with Cm structure grown on NdGaO3. Our observation was further supported by density functional theory calculations which show that BiFeO3 has a ferromagnetic ground state in the Cm crystal phase. The theoretically obtained magnetic moment is 266 emu/cc which is very close to magnetization values found experimentally. Chapter 5 deals with the magnetic interaction and the magneto-electric coupling between the BiFeO3 and SrRuO3 layers of a heterostructure. BiFeO3/SrRuO3 heterostructures were grown on (001) SrTiO3 substrate by PLD technique. The ferroelectric nature of the top BiFeO3 layer was probed by out-of-plane piezo response force microscopy technique. Temperature dependent magnetization measurements of the heterostructure show a sharp ferromagnetic to paramagnetic transition at 160 K which arises from the bottom SrRuO3 layer. Therefore, the heterostructure is ferroelectric and ferromagnetic below 160 K. Magnetic interactions between the two layers were investigated by isothermal magnetic hysteresis loop (M-H) measurement in a SQUID magnetometer. The M-H measurements at 10 K showed a two-step magnetic hysteresis loop which implies that magnetic moments of the SrRuO3 layer get pinned by the magnetic interaction between the two layers. During magnetization reversal process, the pinned magnetic moments switch at a higher magnetic field and generate the second step of the hysteresis loop whereas the first step appears at a lower magnetic field during the switching of the free SrRuO3 moments. The amount of the pinned SrRuO3 moments depends on the thickness of the BiFeO3 layer as the magnetic properties of a BiFeO3 thin film are related to its thickness. Moreover, evidence of the exchange bias effect was also found in the heterostructure. Field-cooled M-H measurement shows that the second step of the hysteresis loop shifts in two opposite directions along the magnetic field axis depending on the polarity of the cooling field whereas the first step doesn’t respond to the cooling field. This confirms that the exchange bias effect is directly related to the pinned magnetic moments of the SrRuO3 layer. The total amount of pinned moment and hence the exchange bias effect reduces with increasing temperature and disappears completely above 100 K. A strong coupling between the electrical properties of the BiFeO3 layer and the magnetic properties of the SrRuO3 layer was also observed in the heterostructure. To carry out electrical measurements, interdigitated gold electrodes were fabricated on the BiFeO3 layer of the heterostructure by standard photolithography, magnetron sputtering, and lift-off procedure. Temperature dependent resistance and reactance measurements of the heterostructure at different frequencies show anomalies at ferromagnetic TC of the bottom SrRuO3 layer. Moreover, temperature dependent capacitance measurement at 0 T and at 5 T magnetic fields also showed anomalies near 160 K which indicate that the electrical properties of the heterostructure are affected by the magnetic transition of the SrRuO3 layer. Furthermore, impedance spectroscopy measurements were carried out at different constant temperatures and the corresponding Nyquist plots were fitted with an equivalent circuit model. Remarkably, the capacitance and resistance of the equivalent circuit corresponding to the BiFeO3 layer of the heterostructure, show anomalies at 160 K. Absence of any dielectric anomaly at 160 K in pure BiFeO3 confirms that the observed ones appear because of the magnetic phase transition of the bottom SrRuO3 layer. Therefore, the BiFeO3/SrRuO3 heterostructure has ferroelectric and ferromagnetic properties along with a strong magneto-electric coupling between the layers which can be a promising candidate for the composite multiferroic. Chapter 6 describes a correlation between the crystal structure and magnetic properties of CuO thin film. CuO thin films were grown on (001) SrTiO3, (110) SrTiO3, and (111) Si substrate with MgO buffer layers by PLD technique. On (110) SrTiO3 substrate, CuO thin films grow along [010] direction, which is the direction of ferroelectric polarization of CuO, but growth direction becomes [111] when (001) SrTiO3 substrate is used. The CuO film becomes polycrystalline when it is grown on (111) Si substrate. To find the in-plane epitaxial relations between the substrate and the two layers, cross-sectional TEM of the heterostructure grown on (110) SrTiO3 was carried out. HRTEM images showed very sharp interfaces between the layers indicating high-quality growth of the heterostructure. The epitaxial relations were deduced from the SAED pattern and the FFT pattern of the HRTEM images. Distinctly different temperature dependent magnetic properties were found for three differently oriented CuO films. Two anomalies at 213 K and 230 K are clearly visible in temperature dependent magnetization (M vs. T) plot of the heterostructure with (010) CuO film which are associated with the two magnetic transitions of CuO. On the other hand, no such anomaly was observed in M vs. T plot of the heterostructure with (111) CuO film. The heterostructure with polycrystalline CuO film shows a very weak magnetic anomaly at 230 K in its M vs. T plot. It can be concluded from our studies that the contrasting magnetic behaviours of these three heterostructures are due to the difference in epitaxial orientations of the CuO layers. Moreover, CuO thin films can be successfully grown in the direction of static ferroelectric polarization which is the ‘b’ axis of its monoclinic crystal structure. Chapter 7 concludes with general findings pertaining to various observations made in the different chapters. Prospects for future work are briefly outlined in this chapter.

Abstract Recently NRL researchers have embarked on a basic research effort “Tuning Giant Magnetoelectric Properties in Phase Transformation Multiferroics” focused on multifunctional materials for energy transduction and conversion. Multiferroic materials combine at least two coupled ferroic properties and are used in multiple applications including magnetic field sensors, energy harvesting devices, non-volatile memory and antennas. There are very few single phase multiferroic materials, and they normally have relatively low magnetoelectric (ME) coupling coefficient. In contrast, engineered materials such as ME composites fabricated from piezoelectric and magnetostrictive materials can show multiple orders of magnitudes increase in the ME coupling coefficient. The optimal design of ME composites would lead to conditions of maximum response (strain, induced voltage, or field) with minimum applied electric or magnetic fields, providing advanced materials for transduction, sensing, energy harvesting and other applications. That is why NRL researchers are working on piezoelectric materials with enhanced properties due to a phase transformation that would minimize the stimuli needed to achieve large strains. Key to the successful design and fabrication of ME composites is an understanding of interface characteristics as well as individual material components. In this paper we will review the current status of work at NRL on engineered multiferroic composites comprised of piezoelectric and magnetostrictive materials coupled through strain. There are still many open questions about the interfacial properties as well as the individual component materials. Details will be presented from recent work on material characterization under repetitive cycling, interface characteristics, and stress/electric/thermal effects on driving the phase transition in a relaxor ferroelectric single crystal.

This paper presents a study of the effect of antiferromagnetic (AFM) integration on the nano AFM-pinned multiferroic (MF) composites structure. The nano MF composites structure is a potential candidate for a future magnetic read head. The simulation of the AFM/ferromagnetic (FM) bilayers characteristics and the evaluation of the magnetoelectric (ME) effect induced in the 1-dimensional (1D) L-T mode model of AFM-pinned structure of AFM/FM/Ferroelectric (FE)/FM/AFM are performed. FM, FE, and two types of AFM materials are Terfenol-D, lead zirconate titanate (PZT), and PtMn and Cr2O3, respectively. The magnetoelectric (ME) effect is investigated using the 1D standard square law. Magnetic-field induced strain in the FM layer, piezoelectric response of the PZT layer, and the ME coefficient are determined. Specifically, the influence of AFM on the MF composites structure for various AFM thicknesses is of interest. It is found that the maximum electric field and potential across the PZT layer are achieved at 2.7 nm thick of PtMn. The result is well agreed by associated magnetic field-induced strain and ME coefficient.

A non-linear theoretical model including bending and longitudinal vibration effects was developed for predicting the magneto electric (ME) effects in a laminate bar composite structure consisting of magnetostrictive and piezoelectric multi-layers. If the magnitude of the applied field increases, the deflection rapidly increases and the difference between experimental results and linear predictions becomes large. However, the nonlinear predictions based on the present model well agree with the experimental results within a wide range of applied electric field. The results of the analysis are believed to be useful for materials selection and actuator structure design of actuator in actuator fabrication. It is shown that the problem for bars of symmetrical structure is not divided into a plane problem and a bending problem. A way of simplifying the solution of the problem is found by an asymptotic method. After solving the problem for a laminated bar, formula that enable one to change from one-dimensional required quantities to three dimensional quantities are obtained. The derived analytical expression for ME coefficients depend on vibration frequency and other geometrical and physical parameters of laminated composites. Parametric studies are presented to evaluate the influences of material properties and geometries on strain distribution and the ME coefficient. Analytical expressions indicate that the vibration frequency strongly influences the strain distribution in the laminates, and that these effects strongly influence the ME coefficients. It is shown that for certain values of vibration frequency (resonance frequency), the ME coefficient becomes infinity; as a particular case, low frequency ME coefficient were derived as well.

The orientation and spatial distribution of magnetic particles in smart mechano-magnetic composites are key to enhancing their actuation capability. In this study, we present a new experimental approach to tune the orientation and assembly of barium hexaferrite (BHF) micro-platelets in liquid polymers by applying uniform magnetic and alternating current (AC)-electric fields. First, we investigated the assembly of BHFs under different electric field amplitudes and frequencies in the silicone elastomer. After establishing the optimum parameters for electric and magnetic alignment, four different microstructures are fabricated namely (a) random (b) electrically aligned (c) magnetically aligned and (d) simultaneously electrically and magnetically aligned. Finally, microstructural and property characterizations are performed using OM, XRD, SEM, and VSM measurements. Our findings demonstrate that a variety of microstructures can be obtained depending on the nature of the applied external field: in the absence of any field, BHF platelets are organized as small stacks, owing to their intrinsic magnetic polarization. In contrast, application of an electric field creates chain-like structures where the orientation of the BHF stacks inside the chains is random. Application of a magnetic field enhances rotation of the BHF stacks, which are found to rotate inside the chain in directions dictated by the magnetic field. Finally, by applying simultaneous electric and magnetic fields while also tuning the processing parameters, BHF-composite film with a squareness ratio of 0.92 is obtained. In order to further extend the actuation capability of resulting composites, we will also experiment with electroactive polymer matrices such as P(VDF–TrFE–CTFE) terpolymer to fabricate a multiferroic material that can actuate under both electric and magnetic field.