Structural properties, temperature-dependent resistivity ρ(T) and thermoelectric power S(T) of La0.85Zr0.15Mn1−xGaxO3 (LZMGO) manganites with 0.0 ≤ x ≤ 0.06 have been extensively investigated. It is found that the Mn–O–Mn bond angle decreases and the Mn–O bond length increases with increasing Ga content, indicative of a significant distortion of MnO6 octahedra in LZMGO. The local lattice distortion and suppression of double exchange ferromagnetism induced by the Ga doping shift both Curie temperature (TC) and metal-insulator transition temperature (TMI) toward lower temperatures. Followed by the metal-insulator transition, ρ(T) exhibits an insulatinglike behavior accompanied by a relatively small value of S(T) below T∗ at low temperatures. An anomalous peak observed in S(T) is attributed to an enhancement of electron-magnon interaction caused by the Ga doping and a decrease in magnetic entropy near TMI. Three different charge transport mechanisms were identified in three temperature regions based on detailed analyses of ρ(T) and S(T) data. The small-polaron hopping mechanism governs the charge transport in the high-temperature paramagnetic region (T＞TMI). The polaron binding energy determined from the ρ(T) and S(T) data increases with increasing Ga content, suggesting that polaron in La0.85Zr0.15MnO3 has a magnetic nature. In addition, the electron-magnon scattering dominates the charge transport in the intermediate-temperature metallic region (T∗＜T＜TMI), whereas the transport behavior in the low-temperature insulating region (T＜T∗) can be described by the three-dimensional variable-range-hopping model.
