Effects of Cation Vacancy Distribution in Doped LaMnO3+d Perovskites

In this paper we report studies on the correlation between the presence and distribution of cation vacancies in doped manganites (La,M)MnO3+delta (where M = Na, Ca) and their magnetic properties. Results indicate that cation vacancies are distributed differently for the different crystal structures and dopant ion type. In particular it is shown that knowledge of the total vacancies concentration alone is not enough to fully characterize the physical properties of manganites and that their distribution between the A and B sites of the perovskite structure plays a crucial role which should be taken into account in future studies.