Nanotubes of rare-earth manganese oxide

We report the synthesis of rare-earth manganese-oxide-based nanotubes. The pore wetting technique was used to obtain structures of nominal composition La0.325Pr0.300Ca0.375MnO3 with 800 nm external diameter, 4000 nm length, and wall thickness below 100 nm exhibiting magnetic and magnetoresistive behavior below 200 K, including nonvolatile memory. Walls are found to be formed by small crystals of approximately 20 nm. Structures obtained using different diameter of pores, as small as 100 nm, have a similar aspect ratio. Results show the realization of nanotubes of manganites exhibiting intrinsic phase separation. (C) 2003 American Institute of Physics.