Influence of rare earth Sm3+ doping on structural and magnetic properties of Ba2FeMoO6 double perovskite

• Curie temperature and magnetization decrease in doped samples. • Anti-site defects reduce magnetization after substitution. • Mixed valence states observed at both B and B' sites. • Two susceptibility peaks suggest Griffiths and coexisting phases. The structural and magnetic properties of the Ba 2-x Sm x FeMoO 6 (x = 0.0, 0.15, 0.2) samples synthesized by the sol–gel method have been investigated. Albeit the doped samples were achieved with impurities, Rietveld refinement of X-ray diffraction data revealed that these samples crystallized in cubic structure with Fm-3 m space group. The lattice parameters, unit cell volume, and bond lengths of the samples with doping increased compared to the pristine sample. A mixed valence states was observed for all samples by XPS characterization. A reduction in magnetization (M S ) is observed for doped samples. The transition temperature (T C ) decreased by doping Sm 3+ ions. The observation of two peaks in the real component of magnetic susceptibility can be ascribed to the existence of Griffiths phases.