Dynamics of charge carriers in La2CuO4 cuprates: Conductivity variation, scaling formalisms, and electric modulus study

Abstract

In this work, we conducted a detailed investigation of the structural properties and the dynamics of the charges in the La2CuO4 Ruddlesden–Popper system that is prepared via the conventional solid-state process. Via the X-ray diffraction data and using the Rietveld refinement, we found that the compound exhibits a single crystallographic phase with a Bmab space group. The DC-conductivity investigation shows that the studied ceramic exhibits two electrical behaviors. Below 460 °C, the occurrence of a semiconductor behavior is attributed to the effect of the Variable range hopping conduction process. At high temperatures, the electrical nature of the material is linked to the thermally activated small polaron hopping conduction process via an activation energy Ea = 1.40 eV. Over the explored temperature range, conductivity spectra of the Ruddlesden–Popper are analyzed using the universal Double Jonscher power law. The dispersion region can be attributed to the coexistence of both hopping and tunneling processes. The conductivity spectra of the La2CuO4 Ruddlesden–Popper nicely follow the time-temperature superposition (TTSP) principle. This confirms that similar sources are responsible for relaxation and conduction processes. Using the Summerfield scaling approach, the superposition of the conductivity spectra into a single master curve confirms that the relaxation process is the microstructure's response independent. From the electrical modulus investigation, we found that the studied compound exhibits a non-Debye relaxation nature, over the explored temperature interval. Contribution of grain and grain boundary were resolved by complex modulus spectroscopy analysis. In addition, we found the absence of the electrode contribution at low frequencies. The correlation between both Z″ and the M″ peaks indicates that the conduction and relaxation processes are not related to the same origins.