Abstract
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•Ce-substituted NZO samples were synthesized by sol–gel auto combustion method.•A strong coupling between magnetic and dielectric order parameters was observed.•Magnetodielectric response increased with substitution contents.
In this letter, we report the energy storage capacity and magneto-dielectric tenability of rare earth zirconates, by synthesizing a series of Ce-substituted neodymium zirconates having general formula, Nd2Zr2−xCexO7 (x = 0.0, 0.4, 0.8, 1.2, 1.6 and 2.0), using sol–gel auto-combustion method. Linear ferroelectric response and energy storage efficiency was checked from polarization loops. Magnetic characterization revealed that rare earth zirconates had small values of coercivity and remanence which argued mainly a superparamagnetic nature of the samples. Tailoring of dielectric properties with the magnetic field and a possible origin of magneto-dielectric coupling was also investigated.