  Most previous investigations have shown that the surface of a ferromagnetic
material may have antiferromagnetic tendencies. However, experimentally the
opposite effect has been recently observed: ferromagnetism appears in some
nano-sized manganites with a composition such that the antiferromagnetic
charge-ordered CE state is observed in the bulk. A possible origin is the
development of ferromagnetic correlations at the surface of these small
systems. To clarify these puzzling experimental observations, we have studied
the two-orbital double-exchange model near half-doping n=0.5, using open
boundary conditions to simulate the surface of either bulk or nano-sized
manganites. Considering the enhancement of surface charge density due to a
possible AO termination (A = trivalent/divalent ion composite, O = oxygen), an
unexpected surface phase-separated state emerges when the model is studied
using Monte Carlo techniques on small clusters. This tendency suppresses the CE
charge ordering and produces a weak ferromagnetic signal that could explain the
experimental observations.
