Growth of manganite nanoparticles with narrow size distribution using reverse micelle method

Abstract

Abstract Charge ordering is one of the interesting phenomena exhibited by doped rare earth manganites. Along with the application of a high magnetic field and variation of composition and temperature, the intrinsic method of size reduction to nanoscale is a much investigated method of ‘melting’ the charge order. However, the question of complete melting of charge order versus the melting of only the long range charge order is not yet fully settled. Investigating small enough and monodisperse nanoparticles should help clarify the point. We have prepared nanoparticles of La0.375Ca0,625MnO3, Nd0.375Ca0, 625MnO3, and La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 following the two-microemulsion reverse micelle method and characterized them using powder x-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy techniques. We find that nanoparticles of narrow size distribution are obtained and conclude that with further tuning of the preparation parameters it is possible to achieve monodisperse nanoparticles of the manganites.