Structural, morphological and magnetic properties of La1−x Na y MnO3 (y ≤ x) nanoparticles produced by the solution combustion method

The rapid solution combustion synthesis and characterization of sodium (Na)-substituted LaMnO 3 phases at relatively low temperature using polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) as fuel were reported. The thermal decomposition process investigated by means of differential and thermal gravimetric analysis (TG–DTA) showed that the use of PVA as a fuel was satisfactory in the synthesis of the perovskite manganite compound. Structural study using X-ray diffraction showed that all the samples were single phasic without any detectable impurities within the measurement range. Also, the Na-substituted compounds crystallize with rhombohedral symmetry (space group R-3c, no. 167) with La0.80Na0.15MnO3 manganite sample giving the highest crystallinity. Microstructural features observed by field-emission scanning electron microscopy demonstrated that most of the grains were nearly spherical in shape with fairly uniform distribution and all the observed particles connect with each other. Energy-dispersive X-ray analyses confirm the homogeneity of the samples. Increase in magnetic moment was observed with the increase in sodium doping. Room-temperature vibrating sample magnetometer measurements showed that the samples were ferromagnetic with compositions y = 0.10, 0.15 and 0.20 showing relatively high magnetic moments of 33, 34 and 36 emu g−1, respectively.