Chemical composition and magnetism of Ag doped LaMnO₃

By using a sol-gel clue, a set of polycrystalline perovskite samples La_1 - xAg_xMnO_3 with a nominal doping level x ranging from 0.05 to 0.45 has been synthesized. The chemical composition and the magnetism of the samples were investigated. A little Ag was found seeping from the samples in the sintering process when the doping level exceeded 0.05 and the sintering temperature was higher than 700℃ resulting in the samples being in multiphase. The magnetic transition points of the samples have been found to decrease with increasing sintering temperature. A concentration-dependent T_\rm c similar to that of bivalent metal ion doped perovskite, has been obtained. We believe that the Ag seeping in the sintering process is responsible for those magnetic characteristics.