Abstract
The effects of Nd-doping on the microstructure and electrical properties of Ca1-xNdxCeNbWO8+δ ceramics prepared by the traditional solid-state reaction route were investigated. XRD patterns reveal that all of the ceramics are assigned to the scheelite CaWO4 phase, whereas the cell volume of the ceramics decreases with the addition of Nd content. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis confirms that the coexistence of Ce3+/Ce4+ ions, which is one of the fundamental reasons for the conductivity of Ca1-xNdxCeNbWO8+δ ceramics. The Ca1-xNdxCeNbWO8+δ ceramics show NTC behavior by observing a good linear relationship between the natural logarithm of resistivity (lnρ) and the reciprocal of the absolute temperature (1000/T) over a wide temperature range (0–600 °C). The values of electrical performance parameters ρ300, B300/600 and Ea of the Ca1-xNdxCeNbWO8+δ compounds are in the range of 8710–15795 Ω cm, 5865.94–6383.89 K, 0.506–0.551 eV, respectively. With the increase of Nd doping, the resistivity, thermal constant B, and activation energy of the ceramics all decrease, indicating the electrical properties of the Ca1-xNdxCeNbWO8+δ compounds can be effectively adjusted by changing Nd3+ concentration.
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