Mn doping-induced semiconducting behavior in the perovskite molybdates SrMo1-xMnxO3(0≤x≤0.20)

The effect of Mn doping on structural, magnetic, electronic transport, and specific heat properties in 4d perovskites SrMo1-xMnxO3(0 <= x <= 0.20) has been investigated. The Mn doping at the Mo site does not change the space group of the samples, but increases the structural parameter a monotonically. All Mn-doped samples show Curie-Weiss paramagnetic behaviors due to the appearance of localized moment, and the magnetic susceptibility chi increases with increasing the Mn-doping content. Samples (x >= 0.03) exhibit semiconducting transport behavior, while x=0.01 shows a metallic behavior with an upturn below T-1. The magnitude of resistivity monotonically increases with increasing Mn-doping content. The evolution of the resistive properties is discussed according to the competition among Kondo scattering, electron-electron interaction, and the disorder effect. In addition, the electron-electron interaction intensity increases with the increasing of Mn-doping content according to the study of specific heat properties. (c) 2007 American Institute of Physics.