Structural Investigation of the Effect of Praseodymium in Eu1-xPrxBa2Cu3O7-δ and EuBa2-xPrxCu3O7-δ Perovskites by 151Eu and 141Pr Mössbauer Spectroscopy

151Eu and 141Pr Mossbauer spectroscopy was applied to study the effects of Pr substitution for Eu or Ba atoms in Eu1-xPrxBa2Cu3O7-δ and EuBa2-xPrxCu3O7-δ, respectively. It was found that there exists a correlation between the 151Eu isomer shift and the onset temperature of the superconducting transition, independent of the location of Pr. This shows that the extra electrons provided by the Pr increase the electronic density in the copper oxide planes and in the 4f orbitals of Eu31, simultaneously. The polycrystalline compound EuBa1.3Pr0.7Cu3O7-δ has been investigated by 141Pr Mossbauer spectroscopy. The observed 141Pr isomer shift, δ(4.2 K) = 0.10(15) mm/s relative to PrF3, reflects a valence state of 3+ for the Pr located at the Ba site in EuBa1.3Pr0.7Cu3O7-δ, being in contrast to the valence state of 3.4+ found earlier for Pr which was situated at the rare earth site. This means that the valence state of Pr substituted for Eu is different from that of Pr substituted for Ba. These results suggest that the suppression of superconductivity by Pr substituted for the rare earth atoms is a consequence of the hole filling effect.