Dimensionality dependent magnetic and magnetocaloric response of La0.6Ca0.4MnO3 manganite

We report the sol-gel synthesis and impact of reduced dimensionality on the magnetocaloric properties of La0.6Ca0.4MnO3 manganite. The synthesized powders were characterized by using X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and magnetization measurements. The XRD results indicated that the La0.6Ca0.4MnO3 nanoparticles have single phase nature with orthorhombic structure. FE-SEM results suggested that the nanoparticles are agglomerated and crystallite size increases with the annealing temperature. Magnetization measurements show that the La0.6Ca0.4MnO3 nanoparticles exhibit transition temperature (T(c)) below room temperature. The transition temperature was found to increase with the increasing the crystallite size. Maximum in magnetic entropy change, (ΔS(M))(max) shows interesting behaviour and was found to vary with the particle size. At magnetic field of 1 T, the value of (ΔS(M))(max) - 0.13 J/kg K was observed at 213 K for the sample annealed at 600 degrees C. Also, the increment in the value of (ΔS(M))(max) was observed at higher annealing temperature. This study shows that the magnetic entropy of pervoskite manganite can be tuned by tuning the crystallite size of the manganites.