The effect of yttrium doping on structural, morphological and, electrical properties of Pr0.6Y0.1Ba0.3MnO3.

We have investigated the effect of Yttrium doping on structural, morphological and, electrical properties of nanocrystalline powder Pr0.6Y0.1Ba0.3MnO3 (PYBMO) synthesized by Sol-gel wet chemical route. Rietveld's analysis of the X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern has revealed that the compound has orthorhombic phase with Pnma space group. Scherrer's formula was used to compute crystallite size, which came out to be ~ 11 nm. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) has confirmed the homogeneity of the sample and calculated average particle size from SEM image using particle size distribution was found to be 110 nm. The temperature dependent resistivity measurements have been carried out in 15-300 K temperature range which shows that nanocrystalline PYBMO exhibits semiconductor behavior. The resistivity data has been fitted with various mechanisms like small polarons hopping (SPH) and variable range hopping (VRH). VRH model is the best fitted for nanocrystalline PYBMO. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]