Magnetic and electrical transport properties of La0.65Ca0.30Pb0.05Mn0.90Cu0.10O3 compounds: Thermal hysteresis

• 900C exhibit PbO impurity having orthorhombic structure (Pbcm).
• Temperature dependent XRD pattern of 900C reveals that there is no structural transformation.
• 900C exhibits thermal hysteresis in magnetization and resistivity.
• PbO impurity accumulated at the grain boundary possibly acts as a pinning site.
• Spin polarized tunneling was used to explain the grain boundary resistivity.

Structural, electrical, and magnetic properties of La0.65(Ca0.30Pb0.05)Mn0.90Cu0.10O3 compound were investigated. The compound, prepared by the sol–gel route, was pressed into pellets and one of them was sintered at 900 °C and the other at 1000 °C for 24 h. The aim of the study was to explore structural, electrical and magnetic properties of the compound. Temperature dependent X-ray powder diffraction studies on the sample sintered at 900 °C reveal an orthorhombic-Pbnm perovskite structure through the temperature range between 320 K and 86 K. Scanning electron microcopy and energy dispersive spectroscopy analyses showed grainy, homogeneous and stoichiometric structure. Magnetization and resistivity measurements reveal that the Curie temperatures, TC, and insulator–metal transition temperatures, TIM, coincide, but the samples sintered at 900 °C also exhibit thermal hysteresis both in magnetization and resistivity upon cooling and warming.