Substantial enhancement in magnetic and magnetodielectric properties of 0.7(Bi2Fe4O9)-0.3(La0.67Sr0.33MnO3) composite

•Room temperature Rietveld refinement of XRD revealed ‘Pbam + Pbnm’ phases.•Mixed valence of Fe and Mn favoured superexchange and double exchange interactions.•Enhanced magnetisation confirmed from temperature & field dependent magnetisation.•Intrinsic MD coupling observed in the composite with MD ∼2% at room temperature.•Landau free energy expression confirmed that MD effect emerges from ‘γP2M2’. In pursuit of room-temperature magnetoelectric materials for numerous technological applications various materials are vigorously explored. Such is the motivation behind the synthesis of 0.7(Bi2Fe4O9)-0.3(La0.67Sr0.33MnO3) composite. The phase purity and structural analysis are examined through Rietveld refinement of room temperature X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern, which shows that the composite has ‘Pbam + Pbnm’ phases. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy confirmed the presence of mixed valence state of magnetic ions i.e. Fe2+ (41%), Fe3+ (45%), Fe4+ (14%) and Mn2+ (88%), Mn3+ (12%) favouring superexchange and double exchange interactions contributing to enhanced magnetizations. The presence of weak ferromagnetism in the composite is confirmed by large irreversibility in ZFC-FC data, isothermal magnetization curves and Arrott plots throughout the wide temperature range (10–300 K). High value of coercivity (Hc) is observed with an increase in temperature which indicates magnetic anisotropy in the system. Along with that, a plausible magnetodielectric (MD) coupling is evidenced in temperature dependent dielectric (ε′) and tan loss. Later, it is verified through intrinsic MD results carried out at higher frequency. At room temperature, the MD effect is found to be ∼2%. A contrasting behaviour in magnetic field variation of MD% is at 10 K and 300 K. However, a butterfly-shaped MD curve is evidenced where MD% ∼0.21% at 10 K. Lastly, Landau free energy expression confirmed that MD effect emerges from the coupling term ‘γP2M2′ where γ is ∼1.6 × 10−2 (emu/g)−2 and ∼1.1 × 10−2 (emu/g)−2 at 10 K and 300 K respectively. Thus, the above findings highlight the significance of the composite as a potential room temperature magnetoelectric material for device applications.