Ferroic properties in bi-component perovskites: artificial superlattices and naturally forming compounds

The use of four different metal cations in a bi-component perovskite ABO(3) structure with 50:50 substitution at A sublattice as well as B sublattice, opens up the door for materials designing, with the aim to improve ferroic properties. This can be achieved following two different routes; one using the concept of artificially grown superlattices with alternating layers of ABO(3) and A'B'O-3 perovskites in a periodic set-up and another, through synthesis of naturally grown bulk double perovskites with ordered arrangement of A and A' cations, simultaneously with that of B and B' cations. The tremendous progress in layered deposition techniques as well as advances in solid state chemistry methods, has made both routes equally plausible and an area of much activity. This review summarizes some of the recent progress in this field, with a special emphasis on two computational studies, (i) one on ultra-thin 1-1 superlattices built out of paraelectric and ferroelectric components, showing tunable piezoelectric properties, and (ii) another on CrOs-based double perovskites which show multiferroic behavior, achieved through layered ordering of A and A' cations.