Influence of successive sintering treatments on high ordered Sr2FeMoO6 double perovskite properties

The influence of successive sintering treatments on the structural, magnetic and electric properties of high ordered Sr2FeMoO6 (SFMO) samples belonging to the same starting batch was investigated. The solid-state synthesis conditions influence the microstructure of the samples and the Fe/Mo order. Successive sintering treatments with intermediate grindings improve the saturation magnetization (3.8μB) which became close to the ideal value (4μB) and the low field magnetoresistance (LFMR) as a consequence of microstructural changes. Above the Curie temperature the evolution of effective magnetic moment values depicts the presence of mixed valency states: FeII/MoVI and FeIII/MoV where the contribution of FeII/MoVI configuration is favoured by the enhancement of Fe/Mo order during successive sintering treatments.