The effects of the calcination temperature on the oxygen content and magnetic properties of the nano- crystalline perovskite manganite Lao.75Sro.25MnO3±δ pre- pared by the sol-gel method were investigated. The highest temperatures at which the samples were calcined were 973, 1073, 1273, and 1473 K. The X-ray diffraction （XRD） analyses indicate that all the samples have only a single phase with the R3c perovskite structure. As the calcination temperature and calcination time increase, the oxygen content in the samples increases from being deficient to being in excess of that in the stoichiometric formula. The crystallite size also increases from 23 to 283 nm. Magnetic measurements indicate that the sample calcined at 1073 K has the highest Curie temperature. This is owing to the fact that the crystallite cores of this sample have stoichiometric oxygen content. The dependence of the Curie temperature and the saturation magnetization on the calcination tem- perature are successfully explained.
Ag-doped manganite powder samples, La0.7Sr0.1AgxMnO3 6 （x = 0.00, 0.025, 0.05, 0.075, and 0.10） were synthesized using the sol-gel method. X-ray diffraction patterns indicated that the samples had two phases with the R-3c perovskite being the dominant phase and Mn3O4 being the second phase. X-ray energy dispersive spectra indicated that the ratio of Ag to La was very close to that of the nominal composition in the samples. The specific saturation magnetizations at 300 K increased from 32.0 A.mZ/kg when x = 0.00 to 46.8 A-mZ/kg when x = 0.10. The Curie temperature, TC, of the samples increased from 310 K when x = 0.00 to 328 K when x = 0.10. Because the atomic concentration ratios of La, Sr, and Mn in the five samples were all the same and only the Ag concentration changed, the variations of the specific saturation magnetizations at 300 K and the Curie temperatures suggested that the Ag cations have been doped into the A sites of the perovskite phase in the samples.
Powder samples with nominal composition La0.6Sr0.1TexMnO3 （x = 0.00, 0.05, 0.10, 0.15, 0.20） were prepared using the sol-gel method with thermal treatment up to 1473 K. On the basis of powder X-ray diffraction （XRD）, thermogravimetric and magnetic measurements, it was found that almost all of the Te and a few of the Mn ions were lost from the samples when they were calcined at 1473 K. The reason for the Te loss and a quantitative phase analysis for the samples calcined at 1473 K are discussed in detail.
LI YanfengJI DenghuiZHAO ZhiweiTANG GuideLIU ShaopengZHANG YugeLI ZhuangzhiHOU DengluZHU Minggang
