Room temperature I-V characteristics of a single hollow La2/3Ca1/3MnO3 microparticle

M. E. SALETA; M. GRANADA; J. CURIALE; R. BENAVIDES; H. E. TROIANI; R. D. SÁNCHEZ

JOURNAL OF PHYSICS CONDENSED MATTER

IOP PUBLISHING LTD

Año: 2011 vol. 23 p. 275301 - 275301

0953-8984

In this work we present an electric characterization of La2/3Ca1/3MnO3 particles obtained by spray-pyrolysis. We optimized the synthesis conditions to obtain the desired compound with the expected structure and the ferromagnetic transition at the same temperature as the bulk material. We found that a post-deposition thermal treatment enhances the magnetic properties of the samples. The study of structural, morphological and magnetic properties shows that the walls of the hollow spheres are constituted by grains in the nanometer scale. The I-V characterization shows typical signatures of tunneling transport. This behavior can be associated to the grain boundaries within the microparticle’s wall acting as tunnel barriers.