Investigation of structural, magnetic and magnetocaloric properties of (La1-xREx)0.67Pb0.33MnO3 (RE = Pr, Sm, Er) manganite compounds

In this study, structural, magnetic and magnetocaloric properties of the manganites (La1-xREx)0.67Pb0.33MnO3 (RE: Pr, Sm, Er) compounds, prepared by sol-gel method, were investigated. In order to investigate crystal structures and surface morphology of samples, X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Energy Dispersive X-Ray spectroscopy (EDX) measurements were carried out. From the XRD analyses it is determined that all the samples have orthorhombic crystal structure with the Pnma space group, as in the undoped La0.67Pb0.33MnO3 manganite. It is observed from the SEM images that the samples consist of highly aggregated grains in different polygonal forms. From the EDX analyses it is determined that the atomic percentage values of the samples are close to the desired values. In order to investigate magnetic properties of the samples temperature-dependent M(T) and magnetic-field-dependent M(H) magnetization measurements were performed. From the M(T) curves it is observed that all the samples indicate ferromagnetic-paramagnetic phase transition and there is a decrease in the phase transition temperatures with the substitution of Pr, Sm and Er for La. The magnetic entropy changes were determined from isothermal magnetization curves which were measured near the transition temperature region of the samples. Additionally the adiabatic temperature change values of the sample with x = 0.3 Sm-content and the sample with x = 1.0 Pr-content were measured directly by using an Adiabatic Magneto-calorimeter.