Nonlinear electrical behaviour of the Cr2O3, ZnO, CoO and Ta2O5-doped SnO2 varistors

The effects of Cr2O3 on the properties of (Zn, Co, Ta)-doped SnO2 varistors were investigated in this study. The samples with different Cr2O3 concentrations were sintered at 1400 degrees C for 2 h. The properties of (Zn, Co, Ta, Cr)-doped SnO2 varistors were evaluated by XRD. dilatornetry, SEM, I-V and impedance spectroscopy. DC electrical characterization showed a dramatic increase ill the breakdown electrical field and in the nonlinear coefficient with the increase in Cr2O3 concentration. The grain size was found to decrease from 13 to 5 mu m with increasing the Cr2O3 content. The impedance data, represented by means of Nyquist diagrams, show two time constants, one at low frequencies and the other at high frequencies. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd and Techna Group S.r.l. All rights reserved.

WO3 and ZnO-doped SnO2 ceramics as insulating material

SnO2 ceramics doped with ZnO and WO3 were prepared by mixed oxide method. The effect of ZnO and WO3 additives could be explained by the substitution of Sn4+ by Zn2+ and W6+. The addition of WO3 inhibits the grain growth due to the segregation of SnZnWO8 and ZnWO6 at the grain boundaries without strong influence on the densification process. The electrical characterization (log E x log J) shows that the ternary system SnO2-ZnO-WO3 exhibits a very high resistivity of around 10(14) Omega M. Independently of the WO3 concentration, the electrical conductivity of the Sn02-ZnO-WO3 system is always lower than that of the undoped tin dioxide. (C) 2005 Elsevier Ltd and Techna Group S.r.l. All rights reserved.

Influence of the precursor salts in the synthesis of CaSnO3 by the polymeric precursor method

CaSnO3 was synthesized by the polymeric precursor method, using different precursor salts as (CH3COO)(2)Ca. H2O, Ca(NO3)(2). 4H(2)O, CaCl2. 2H(2)O and CaCO3, leading to different results. Powder precursor was characterized using thermal analysis. Depending on the precursor different thermal behaviors were obtained. Results also indicate the formation of carbonates, confirmed by IR spectra. After calcination and characterization by XRD, the formation of perovskite as single phase was only identified when calcium acetate was used as precursor. For other precursors, tin oxide was observed as secondary phase.

A theoretical analysis on electronic structure of the (110) surface of TiO2-SnO2 mixed oxide

Mixed oxide compounds, such as TiO2-SnO2 system are widely used as gas sensors and should also provide varistor properties modifying the TiO2 surface. Therefore, a theoretical investigation has been carried out characterizing the effect of SnO2 on TiO2 addition on the electronic structure by means of ab initio SCF-LCAO calculations using all electrons. In order to take into account the finite size of the cluster, we have used the point charge model for the (TiO2)(15) cluster to study the effect on electronic structure of doping the TiO2 (110) Surface. The contracted basis set for titanium (4322/42/3), oxygen (33/3) and tin (43333/4333/43) atoms were used. The charge distributions, dipole moments, and density of states of doping TiO2 and vacancy formation are reported and analysed. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Dependence of La2O3 content on the nonlinear electrical behaviour of ZnO, CoO and Ta2O5 doped SnO2 varistors

The effects of La2O3 on the properties of (Zn, Co, Ta) doped SnO2 varistors were investigated in this study. The samples with different La2O3 concentrations were sintered at 1400 degrees C for 2 h and their properties were characterized by XRD, SEM, I-V and impedance spectroscopy. The grain size was found to decrease from 13 pm to 9 gm with increasing La2O3 content. The addition of rare earth element leads to increase the nonlinear coefficient and the breakdown voltage. The enhancement was expected to arise from the possible segregation of lanthanide ion due to its larger ionic radius to the grain boundaries, thereby modifying its electrical characteristics. Furthermore, the dopants such as La may help in the adsorption of O' to O '' at the grain boundaries characteristics. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Ultraviolet excitation of photoconductivity in thin films of sol-gel SnO2

Tin dioxide (SnO2) thin film photoconductivity spectra were measured for a large temperature range using a deuterium source, the intensity of photocurrent spectra in the range 200-400 nm is temperature dependent, and the photocurrent increases in the ultraviolet even for illumination with photon energies much higher than the bandgap transition. This behavior is related to recombination of photogenerated electron-hole pairs with oxygen adsorbed at grain boundaries, which is consistent with nanoscopic crystallite size of sol-gel deposited films. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Electrical and micro structural properties of (Zn, Nb, Fe)-doped SnO2 varistor systems

The electrical and microstructural properties of SnO2-based varistors with the addition of 0.025 and 0.050 mol% of Fe2O3 have been characterised. Electric field (E) versus current density (J) curves showed that the effect of Fe2O3 addition is to increase both the non-linear coefficient and the breakdown voltage. Variations in the potential barrier height were inferred from impedance spectroscopy (IS) analysis. Through transmission electron microscopy (TEM), the presence of precipitates of secondary phases was confirmed. Samples with precipitates displayed poor electrical properties. (c) 2004 Elsevier Ltd and Techna Group S.r.l. All rights reserved.

Changes of physical properties of glass surfaces exposed to KNO3 vapors

Modifications of glass surfaces were studied after exposure of samples to an atmosphere resulting from the decomposition of molten KNO3. The diffusion coefficient of K+ ions migrating into the surfaces of float glass and synthesized glasses doped with up to 5 wt% SnO2 was calculated by the Boltzmann-Matano technique. The Vickers hardness and the refractive index increase with exposure time. Infrared spectra show that the migration of K+ is responsible for an increase in the number of non-bridging oxygens in the exposed samples. The spectra of the synthesized glasses present evidences that their surfaces undergo crystallization during the exposure. All results lead to the conclusion that the presence of tin in the glasses hinders the diffusion of K+ ions, thus affecting the Vickers hardness, the refractive index and the infrared spectra. It is shown that the exposure method can be used as an alternative process to promote the K+ migration into glass surfaces. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Electro-optical properties of Er-doped SnO2 thin films

Photoconductivity of SnO2 sol-gel films is excited, at low temperature, by using a 266 nm line-fourth harmonic-of a Nd:YAG laser. This line has above bandgap energy and promotes generation of electron-hole pairs, which recombines with oxygen adsorbed at grain boundary. The conductivity increases up to 40 times. After removing the illumination on an undoped SnO2 film, the conductivity remains unchanged, as long as the temperature is kept constant. Adsorbed oxygen ions recombine with photogenerated holes and are continuously evacuated from the system, leaving a net concentration of free electrons into the material, responsible for the increase in the conductivity. For Er doped SnO2, the excitation of conductivity by the laser line has similar behavior, however after removing illumination, the conductivity decreases with exponential-like decay. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Densification and coarsening of SnO2-based materials containing manganese oxide

The present work presents results on natural sintering of tin dioxide ceramics, prepared by a chemical route or by conventional mixing and containing manganese (X-Mn = Mn/(Mn + Sn)(atomic) with 0 less than or equal to X(Mn)less than or equal to 0.15). This cation, which is practically insoluble in SnO2 network, stays at the grain surface. During thermal treatment (500 degrees C less than or equal to T-s less than or equal to 1400 degrees C), as long as the manganese surface concentration is lower than a critical value, equal to 5.10(-6) mol m(-2), no densification takes place. As soon as this value is reached, densification and grain growth occur simultaneously. The shrinkage kinetics is fast and high rho/rho(t) values can be obtained (for example. rho/rho(t)=0.95 for T-s=1300 degrees C and X-Mn=0.004). The dependence between manganese content, manganese distribution, grain size and sintering behaviour is also discussed. (C) 1998 Published by Elsevier B.V. Limited.

Planar waveguides based on nanocrystalline and Er3+ doped SnO2

Luminescent SnO2: x%mol Er3+ (x=0.1-2.0) thin films have been spin coated on borosilicate and silica substrates from water colloidal suspensions that could be prepared containing up to 40% in weight SnO2 nanocrystalline powders. High Resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy results show the well known SnO2 cassiterite structure and nanocrystallites around 10 nm in diameter, corroborating results from X-ray diffraction. Mono and multi layers have been prepared from the stable colloidal suspensions and films thickness was observed to increase linearly, up to 200 nm, with the colloidal suspensions nanoparticles amount. Excitation and emission spectra have been measured and Er3+ ions were found to be essentially incorporated into the cassiterite structure, substituting for Sn4+, for doping concentration lower than 0.05 mol%. Er3+ ions also appear segregated at the grains surface for higher doping concentration. The optical parameters (refractive index, thickness and propagating modes) of a waveguide sample were measured at 632.8 and 543.4 nm by the prism coupling technique. A monomodal waveguide was obtained with attenuation loss of 3.5 dB/cm along a 2.5 cm optical path.

Electron scattering and effects of sources of light on photoconductivity of SnO2 coatings prepared by sol-gel

Electro-optical properties of sol-gel derived 2 mol% antimony or niobium doped tin dioxide films have been measured. The electron density has been calculated considering all the relevant scattering mechanisms and experimental conductivity data measured in the range -197 to 25 degrees C. The results support the hypothesis that both ionised impurity scattering and grain boundary scattering have comparable effects in the resistivity of coatings, for free electron density congruent to 5 x 10(18) cm(-3). We have measured variation of photoconductivity excitation with wavelength using xenon and deuterium lamp as light sources. Results show that the main band in the photoconductivity spectrum is dependent on the spectral light source emission, the excitation peak reaching 5 eV (deuterium lamp). This band is due to the recombination process involving oxygen species and photogenerated electron-hole pairs. (C) 1999 Elsevier B.V. B.V. All rights reserved.

Speciation analysis of Sn(II) and Sn(IV) using baker's yeast and inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry

The use of Saccharomyces cerevisiae as a substrate to selectively retain Sn(II) and Sn(IV) has been investigated. Several factors affecting the retention of the analytes by yeast, such as pH, amount of biomass, temperature and time of contact were evaluated. Based on this study, a method for determination of Sn(II) and Sn(IV) combining inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP OES) and solid phase extraction using Saccharomyces cerevisiae is proposed. The procedure consists of the selective retention of Sn(IV) by yeast at pH = 2.0 while Sn(II) remains in solution. Determination of tin in the solid phase was easily carried out by submitting a slurry of the yeast (0.5 g/40 mL) directly to ICP OES. The precision of the extraction procedure was characterized by an RSD lower than 4%. The detection limits of tin (3 sigma) in the solid phase and the liquid phase were 1.1 and 0.7 mu g L-1, respectively. The proposed approach was evaluated for determination of Sn(II) and Sn(IV) in spiked river water and real samples of industrial waste water (untreated and treated). For all samples, recoveries of spiked Sn(II) and Sn(IV) were between 85 and 112%.

Synthesis of SnO2 by chemical routes and its use in varistors production

Tin oxide, SnO2. is a very used compound in industry and one of its uses is as varistor. For the current requirements of the technology is necessary a strict control of the chemical purity and the particle size of the raw material; for that reason the great interest that exists at the moment to develop synthesis methods that allow to get these requirements. In this work, ceramic powders of the Sn-Co-Nb-Ti-Al system using the controlled precipitation and polymeric precursor (Pechini) methods were synthesized. The raw material obtained was characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermal analysis (DTA/FG) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The sintering samples shown a good varistor behavior with non-linear coefficient (alpha) values similar to 22, and Er 2083 V/cm(2). (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Morphological characterization of Langmuir-Blodgett films from polyaniline and a ruthenium complex (Rupy): influence of the relative concentration of Rupy

We report on the use of dynamic scale theory and fractal analyses in a study of the growth stages of Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) films of polyaniline and a neutral biphosphinic ruthenium complex, namely mer-[ RuCl3 (dppb)(py)] (dppb = 1,4-bis(diphenylphosphine) buthane, py = pyridine), Rupy. The LB films were deposited onto indium-tin-oxide substrates and characterized with atomic force microscopy. From the granular morphology exhibited by the films one could infer growth processes inside and outside the grains. Growth outside was found to follow the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang model, with fractal dimensions of about 2.7. As one would expect, inside the grains the morphology is close to a Euclidian surface with fractal dimension of about 2.