Electrical properties of Sr x Ba1 − x Fe 0·6 Sn 0·4 O3 − ε NTC thermistors

Abstract

Polycrystalline thermistor ceramics with the stoichiometric formula, Sr x Ba1 − x Fe0·6Sn0·4O3 − ε (0·2 ≤ x ≤ 0·8), had been prepared by a standard solid state reaction route. X-ray diffraction analysis indicates that the ceramic system remains cubic perovskite structure with a very small lattice change. The electrical properties of Sr x Ba1 − x Fe0·6Sn0·4O3 − ε thermistors were studied using a digital thermometer over a wide range of 298–400 K. The thermistors showed an excellent negative temperature coefficient (NTC) thermistor behaviour. The values of resistivity at 298 K (ρ 298), thermistor constant (B 298/358) and activation energy (E a) of the Sr x Ba1 − x Fe0·6Sn0·4O3 − ε thermistors, decreasing with the increase of Sr content, were in the range of 0·37–11·0 kΩ ·cm, 2466–3703 K and 0·212–0·319 eV, respectively. For the thermistors with the compositions x = 0·2 and 0·4, the fitting equivalent circuit was composed of three RCPE elements corresponding to grain, grain boundary and ceramic–electrode interface, respectively. From the impedance plots, it was found that the fitting data showed good agreement with the experimental data. The extracted grain boundary resistance exhibited a NTC thermistor behaviour.