Mixed-valence manganites have attracted considerable research focus in recent years not only because of the potential application of colossal magnetoresistance(CMR) in magnetic devices,but also because of many intriguing physical properties observed in these materials.Doping elements at A-site can alter the filling of 3d Mn band and the tolerance factor.Therefore the hole-and electron-doped CMR manganites exhibit a rich phase diagram.In addition,more theoretical and experimental results suggest that phase separation is a critical factor for the understanding of CMR phenomena.Recently,there is an increasing interest in the fabrication and investigation on manganite-based heterojunction,which demonstrated excellent rectifying property,large MR,and photovoltaic effect.
The effects of Ce-doping on the phase transition of the orbital/spin ordering (OO/SO) are studied through the structural, magnetic, and electrical transport measurements of perovskite vanadate Sm1 x Ce x VO 3 . The measurements of structure show that the cell volume decreases as x≤ 0.05, and then increases as Ce-doping level increases further. The OO state exists but is suppressed progressively in the sample with x≤0.2 and disappears as x0.2. The temperature at which the C-type SO transition is present increases monotonically with Ce-doping level increasing. The temperature dependence of resistivity for each of the samples shows a semiconducting transport behavior and the transport can be well described by the thermal activation model. The activation energy first decreases as x ≤0.2, and then increases for further doping. The obtained results are discussed in terms of the mixed-valent state of the doped-Ce ions.