Structural and electrical properties of Ba(Sn,Sb)O3 electroceramics materials

The conductivity of BaSnO3 ceramics have been measured at elevated temperature as a function of oxygen partial pressure. The experimental data allows us to propose that the dominant defect in BaSnO3 is an oxygen vacancy. The effects of doping with Sb2O3 bn the electrical properties of BaSnO3 have been investigated. The dependence of the resistivity value of Ba(Sn,Sb)O-3 materials on the doping content has a pronounced minimum at the molar concentration of Sb2O3 about 2%. At first the introduction of Sb2O3 results in a significant decrease of the resistivity of BaSnO3, the successive increase of Sb2O3 results in the appearance of the insulator phases. This leads to the increase of the resistivity value of Ba(Sn,Sb)O-3 materials. No variation of the crystal cell parameter is observed under the doping procedure. The resistance characteristics of Ba(Sn,Sb)O-3 materials as a function of temperature show that Ba(Sn,Sb)O-3 is a kind of electroceramics with low activation energy. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.