Electronic transport, ac-susceptibility, and magnetotransport studies of Pr[sub 0.6]Sr[sub 0.4]MnO[sub 3] manganite nanoparticles

We investigated the electronic transport, magnetic, and magneto-transport properties of perovskite Pr0.6Sr0.4MnO3 (PSMO) manganite in nanometric grain size modulations in the range of 32-50 nm. Structural property confirms all samples are in single phase well crystallined with Pbnm space group. In the electronic transport nanometric sample shows a metal-insulator transition varying from 215 K to 275 K. The low field magnetoresistance (LFMR) (upto 1 Tesla) of the lowest nanometric sample is found maximum (∼55%) at 10 K compared to other nanometric samples. However, in nanometric dimension, paramagnetic to ferromagnetic transition temperatures are increased rather than its reported bulk counterpart value (∼300 K). The micro-structural, ac-susceptibility, electronic-, magneto-transport properties in nano manganites is analyzed on the basis of enhanced surface disorder at the grain surface in order to explain the appearance of metallicity, LFMR and modified magnetic properties.