Influence of polymerizing agent on structure and spectroscopic properties of nano‐crystalline La0.8Sr0.2MnO3 powders

Strontium‐doped lanthanum manganite (La_1‐xSr_xMnO₃ or LSM) is the material most widely used on solid oxide fuel cells cathode. In this work, nano‐scale La_0.8Sr_0.2MnO₃ powders have been synthesized by polymeric precursor‐based methods using different polymerizing agents with the aim of evaluating the influence of this change in the final powder. The powders calcined at 700 °C for 2 h have been characterized by X‐ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (FE‐SEM) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) in order to investigate the quality of both synthesis routes. It is shown that the crystal structure and morphology of the particles are significantly dependent on the preparation conditions. Single phase and La_0.8Sr_0.2MnO₃ nano‐crystalline particles less than 30 nm were obtained using ethylene glycol as polymerizing agent. FTIR results have been indicated that only the powder obtained using gelatin presented small traces of hydroxyl groups on its surface. (© 2010 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)