Manganese doped Sm–Cd nanoalloys–their synthesis, characterisation and evaluation of electrical properties

Abstract

Manganese doped Sm–Cd nanoparticles with manganese content varying from 0 to 30 mol % were synthesized using chemical reduction method. The structural and compositional analyses were carried out using x-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). XRD analysis indicated the formation of single phase cubical structure of all the samples. The crystallite size was observed to vary from 47 to 21 nm as the manganese content was increased. The effect of Mn substitution on the frequency and temperature dependent electric properties (dielectric constant, dielectric & tangent loss) of Sm–Cd nano alloys with nominal composition Sm11Cd45-x Mnx (where x = 0.0, 20, 25 and 30) was measured. The increase in AC conductivity with frequency may be attributed to the tremendous increase of mobility of the charge carriers. DC conductivity linearly decreases with temperature indicating metallic behavior of nano alloys. The room temperature conductivity of the materials increases from 6.2 × 10−5 to 1.37 × 10−4 S/cm with the increase in Mn content.