Structural, magnetic and magnetocaloric properties of the compound La0.94Bi0.06MnO3

In this study, the magnetocaloric properties of lightly doped La0.94Bi0.06MnO3 were investigated in detail. Polycrystalline manganite with the chemical composition La0.94Bi0.06MnO3 was prepared by a standard solid-state process. An X-ray diffraction measurement indicated that the sample crystallised into a single phase, the orthorhombic structure. Magnetic measurements showed that relatively small amount of Bi doping in LaMnO3 could cause ferromagnetic ordering. The Curie temperature was determined to be 209 K. The sample also exhibited a large magnetic entropy change |∆Sm|=1.58 J/kg K under a 1T magnetic field near the Curie temperature. Using the Landau theory and Arrott plots, the phase transition was determined to be first order.