Influence of Nd doping on the electrical and magnetoresistance properties of La_0.7Ca_0.3MnO₃ ceramics

Xuemei Deng, Jingang Guo, Shuang Ding, Yuchen Xie, Hui Zhang, Hongxi Liu, Qingming Chen*, Yule Li*

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ceramint.2025.01.011

Abstract

As a strongly correlated electronic material, perovskite manganese has a strong insulation-metal transition and colossal magnetoresistance, which makes the perovskite manganese oxide represented by La_1-xCa_xMnO₃(LCMO) has important application potential in magnetic memory, magnetic induction meter, infrared sensor and other fields. Achieving high temperature coefficient of resistance (TCR) and magnetoresistance (MR) is the key to realizing the potential applications of perovskite manganese ores. In this paper, a series of La_0.7-xNd_xCa_0.3MnO₃ polycrystalline ceramics were prepared by sol-gel method. The effects of Nd³⁺ doping on the surface morphology, crystal structure, electrical transport and magnetoresistive properties of the samples were investigated. The results show that Nd3+ doping can effectively change a series of magnetoelectric transport properties of polycrystalline ceramics, including TCR and MR. X-ray diffraction shows that the sample is pure phase and has excellent crystallinity. The scanning electron microscope (SEM) images reveal that the neodymium-doped polycrystalline ceramic samples have a high-density surface with no visible pores. When x = 0.09, the MR peak of this sample reaches as high as 82.77 %, when x = 0.12, the TCR peak of this sample reaches as high as 43.76%·K⁻¹. This study contributes to a deeper understanding of the electrical transport and magnetoresistive properties of perovskite ceramics.