Synthesis and characterization of La0.6Sr0.4Mn0.8Co0.2O3 nanoparticles

Document Type : Regular Articles

Authors

1 Physics Department, Faculty of Science, Sohag University, 82524 Sohag, Egypt.

2 Solid State Physics Department, Physics Research Institute, National Research Center, Dokki, Giza, 12622, Egypt.

3 Department of Reactor Physics, NRC, Egyptian Atomic Energy Authority, Cairo, Egypt.

Abstract

Abstract:La0.6Sr0.4Mn0.8Co0.2O3 nanoparticles were synthesized by the sol-gel method. X-ray diffraction and Rietveld refinement confirmed the hexagonal perovskite structure. The output of Rietveld refinement provided detailed information about the crystal structure and facilitated the accurate crystallite size determination. Using the size strain model, the crystallite size and microstrain were calculated to be 15.15 nm and 0.00013, respectively. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy supported the perovskite structure through the characteristic absorption bands in the low wavenumber range. Scanning electron microscopy revealed the formation of aggregated nanoparticles with sizes exceeding the crystallite size. The electrical conductivity confirmed the semiconducting behavior, where the Arrhenius plot confirmed the presence of two activation energies, Ea₁ ≈ 0.07 eV and Ea₂ ≈ 0.26 eV. The vibrating sample magnetometer measurement indicated the presence of competing exchange interactions responsible for unsaturated magnetization that induce the formation of superparamagnetic-like behavior at room temperature. These findings suggest the potential of using LSMCO nanoparticles in applications such as biomedical fields and in spintronic devices.

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