Investigation on the Optical, electrical and dielectric properties of La0.7Ca0.3MnO3 (LCMO) via. different routes: A comparative analysis of micro and nanoparticles

Abstract

In the proceeding way of material research in the field of manganites, LCMO micro and nanoparticles are synthesized via. the solid-state reaction route, glycine-nitrate combustion method respectively. The phase confirmation is done by XRD, FT-IR technique and the surface morphology viewed by Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). The energy band gap obtained from Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy clearly suggests that the band gap of nanoparticles (2.06eV) is larger than that of the microparticles (1.58eV). Both samples comprise of wide band-gap semiconductor, so the refractive index is calculated using Herve and Vandamme relation. The impedance spectroscopy and dielectric properties of the two samples are studied from room temperature to 100ºC over the frequency range 102-106 Hz. The Cole-Cole plot of impedance is fitted using the RC-Circuit R(QgRg)(QgbRgb)(CRin). The dielectric property is found to be enhanced in nanoparticles as compared to the microparticles. The findings suggest the nanoparticles be promising candidates in the field of high frequency devices as compared to micro.