Enhanced magnetocaloric properties of La0.8K0.2-xPbxMnO3 nanoparticles by optimizing Pb doping concentrations

Polycrystalline La(0.8)K(0.2-x)Pb(x)MnO3 (x = 0.05, 0.10, 0.15, 0.20) ceramics were successfully prepared by flash combustion route and their structural, morphological, magnetic and magnetocaloric properties were investi-gated. Structural analyses using X-ray diffraction reveal that all samples are crystallized in the rhombohedral structure and belong to R <(3) over bar > c space group. The increase of Pb doping does not modify the crystalline structure but changes the grain size and lattice parameters. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) fitting results of Mn 2p peaks confirmed the coexistence of Mn3+ and Mn4+ ions which contribute to the double exchange interactions improving the ferromagnetic order in the samples. The magnetization's temperature and magnetic field de-pendences indicate a second-order ferromagnetic-paramagnetic transition of the ceramics. A significant mag-netic entropy change near room temperature was observed for La0.8K0.1Pb0.1MnO3, showing considerable magnetocaloric properties. Furthermore, electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy (EPR) was also used to examine the ferromagnetic-paramagnetic transition.

Automated summary

Poly-crystalline La(0.8)K(0.2-x)Pb(x)MnO3 (x = 0.05, 0.10, 0.15, 0.20) ceramics were successfully prepared by flash combustion route and their structural, morphological, magnetic and magnetocaloric properties were investigated. Results showed that Pb doping changes the grain size and lattice parameters without modifying the crystal structure. La0.8K0.1Pb0.1MnO3 exhibited significant magnetocaloric properties near room temperature.