Structural, electrical and magnetic properties of Nd – A – CoO(3) (A = Sr, Ca) Perovskite Powders by Mechanical Alloying

In this work, NdCoO(3) (NCO), Nd(0.8)Sr(0.2)CoO(3) (NSCO) and Nd(0.9)Ca(0.1)CoO(3) (NCCO) perovskite cobaltites were synthesised by mechanical alloying method. Structural evolutions, magnetic and electrical properties of these perovskite were systematically examined through X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy with energy-dispersive X-ray detection (SEM-EDX), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), vibration sample magnetometer (VSM) and impedance analyser (IA). The XRD and SEM results revealed that the microstructure of the perovskite materials changed during mechanical alloying. The average crystallite size of the perovskite materials was calculated by Debye Scherrer equation and was confirmed by TEM, and it was determined ~19 nm. From the VSM results, the all perovskites had soft ferromagnetic properties. IA measurements showed that relatively dielectric constants of the perovskites decreased with increasing frequency. Therefore, for the first time, nanostructured NCO, NSCO and NCCO perovskites exhibiting good properties were produced in only two steps which are milling and heating.