Effect of bismuth doping on structural, morphological, Griffiths-like phase, and magnetocaloric properties in La0.9−xBixBa0.1MnO3 (x = 0, 0.05, and 0.1)

Abstract

In this recent work, we have carried out the structural, morphological, Griffiths-like phase, and magneto-caloric studies of sol–gel-synthesized, nanocrystalline manganite La0.9−xBixBa0.1MnO3 (x = 0, 0.05, and 0.1). The Rietveld analysis of X-ray diffraction patterns of nanocrystalline La0.9−xBixBa0.1MnO3 (x = 0, 0.05, and 0.1) confirm the single-phase nature and orthorhombic crystal structure with Pnma space group for all samples. The images acquired with a transmission electron microscope reveal the average particle sizes ranges from 32 nm to 65 nm. The temperature-dependent magnetization measurements, for 0.05 T external applied magnetic field, have revealed paramagnetic (PM) to ferromagnetic (FM) phase transition with transition temperatures (TC) ∼ 228 K, 219 K, and 233 K for x = 0, 0.05, and 0.1, respectively. The downward divergence of temperature dependence inverse susceptibility from the Curie-Weiss fit, indicates a pronounced Griffiths singularity in the samples. The positive slopes of Arrott plots for nanocrystalline La0.9−xBixBa0.1MnO3 (x = 0.05, 0.1) confirm the second-order magnetic phase transition. We have estimated the magnetic entropy change at different values of applied magnetic field for nanocrystalline La0.9−xBixBa0.1MnO3 (x = 0.05, 0.1) samples. Further, using this magnetic entropy data, we have also estimated the magnetic cooling capacity.