Abstract
This work presents \(\hbox {Bi}_{{2}}\hbox {O}_{\mathrm {3}}\hbox {-doped SnO}_{{2}}\) ceramic varistors prepared through conventional ceramic processing in the sintering temperature range of 1290–1320°C. The sample sintered at 1300°C exhibits a breakdown electric field as low as 11.6 V \(\hbox {mm}^{\mathrm {-1}}\). Scanning electron microscopy images reveal that all the samples have a compact structure, and energy dispersive spectroscopy results for the sample sintered at 1300°C indicate that Bi distributes homogeneously along the grain boundaries and aggregates inhomogeneously on the grain surfaces. With increasing sintering temperature, the grain boundary barrier height remains nearly constant at 0.80 eV. In both the dielectric loss and electric modulus spectra of the sample sintered at 1300°C, obvious relaxations were observed and the activation energies obtained from the respective spectra were 0.33 and 0.15 eV, which are expected to be related to oxygen vacancies and interstitial ions, respectively. Complex impedance spectra are employed to develop a non-typical equivalent circuit model for the \(\hbox {Bi}_{{2}}\hbox {O}_{\mathrm {3}}\hbox {-doped SnO}_{{2}}\) ceramic varistors at low voltage that yields an excellent fit to the data.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Frosch C J 1954 Bell Lab. Rec.32 336
Matsuoka M, Masuyama T and Iida Y 1969 Jpn. J. Appl. Phys.8 1275
Clarke D R 1999 J. Am. Ceram. Soc.82 485
Zhao X, Li S, Liao R, Zhang J, Liu K and Li J 2016 J. Mater. Sci.: Mater. Electron.27 9196
Kutty T R N and Philip S 1995 Mater. Sci. Eng. B: Solid33 58
Li J, Li F, Zhuang Y, Jin L, Wang L, Wei X et al 2014 J. Appl. Phys.116 074105
Liu L, Huang Y, Li Y, Shi D, Zheng S, Wu S et al 2012 J. Mater. Sci.47 2294
Liu L, Shi D, Zheng S, Huang Y, Wu S, Li Y et al 2013 Mater. Chem. Phys.139 844
Pianaro S A, Bueno P R, Longo E and Varela J A 1995 J. Mater. Sci. Lett.14 692
Zang G Z, Wang J F, Chen H C, Wang W X, Su W B, Wang C M et al 2005 Appl. Phys. A: Mater.80 1093
Wang J-F, Chen H-C, Su W-B, Zang G-Z, Zhang C-J, Wang C-M et al 2005 J. Electroceram.14 133
Maleki Shahraki M, Bahrevar M A and Mirghafourian S M S 2015 Ceram. Inter.41 6920
Zang G-Z, Wang J-F, Chen H-C, Su W-B, Wang C-M and Qi P 2005 Chin. Phys. Lett.22 750
Glot A B, Bulpett R, Ivon A I and Gallegos-Acevedo P M 2015 Physica B457 108
Maleki Shahraki M, Alipour S, Mahmoudi P and Karimi A 2018 Ceram. Inter.44 20386
Zang G-Z, Wang X-F, Li L-B and Zhou F-Z 2016 Ceram. Inter.42 18124
Zang G-Z, Liu H-H, Lei J-F, Wang X-F, Li L-B, Cao J-X et al 2015 J. Am. Ceram. Soc.98 2112
Zang G-Z, Wang X-F, Li L-B and Wang D-D 2017 Ceram. Inter.43 8018
Zang G-Z, Wang X-F, Liu H-H, Zhou F-Z and Li L-B 2016 J. Mater. Sci.: Mater. Electron.27 9836
Macdonald J R 1990 Electrochim. Acta35 1483
Shim Y and Cordaro J F 1988 J. Am. Ceram. Soc.71 184
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Henan Province of China (Grant No. 182300410177). We also thank Accdon (www.accdon.com) for its linguistic assistance during the preparation of this manuscript.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Zang, GZ., Chu, RQ. & Xu, ZJ. \(\hbox {Bi}_2\hbox {O}_{3}\hbox {-doped}\) \(\hbox {SnO}_{{2}}\) varistors with low breakdown electric fields. Bull Mater Sci 43, 97 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12034-020-2039-2
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12034-020-2039-2