Structural and magnetic analysis of La0.67Ca0.33MnO3 nanoparticles thermally treated: Acoustic detection of the magnetocaloric effect

Nanoparticles of La0.67Ca0.33MnO3 were synthesized via the sol-gel method, thermally treated and characterized using X-ray diffraction, magnetization, electron spin resonance and magnetoacoustic experiments. The formation of the desired perovskite structure was verified and the average size of the nanoparticles was also determined. An increase of the particle size by rising the treatment temperature was observed. The Curie temperature and the isothermal entropy variation of the samples were obtained from the magnetization data. The isothermal entropy change, produced under the application of an external magnetic field, which expresses the magnetocaloric effect, became significantly larger for the samples treated at higher temperatures. These results are in good agreement with those obtained by magnetoacoustics, based on the direct and contactless measurement of the temperature change, validating the ability of the technique to study the magnetocaloric effect in reduced mass and nanoparticles samples.