Studies on crystallographic and electrical behavior of neodymium substituted perovskite : La1-xNdxMnO3

Department of Chemistry, Dr. H. S. Gour Central University, Sagar-470 003, Madhya Pradesh, India

E-mail : dr.rchourasia@gmail.com

Manuscript received online 29 December 2014, revised 26 March 2015, accepted 31 March 2015

Perovskite structured ceramic phases, namely, La_0.9Nd_0.1MnO₃ (LMNd-1) and La_0.7Nd_0.3MnO₃ (LMNd-3) synthesized by oxide route method crystallize in the rhombohedral symmetry (space group R-3c). Their structure refinement converged to satisfactory values of Rietveld parameters : R_p , R_wp and goodness of fit. Infrared absorptions of M-O stretching and bending vibrations have been assigned. Crystal morphology and composition of phases have been analyzed by scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray analysis respectively. Electrical properties of material have been investigated by impedance spectroscopy in the frequency range 42 Hz to 5 MHz at temperatures between 50–300 ºC. Nyquist plots show the dominance of grain contribution and Debye-like relaxation in the materials. Conductivity data as a function of temperature and frequency suggest semiconducting behavior of the materials.