Seebeck coefficient and electrical conductivity of BSCF (Ba _(0.5)Sr _(0.5)Co _xFe _(1 - X)O _(3 - δ), 0 ≤ x ≤ 0.8) as a function of temperature and partial oxygen pressure

摘要

The electrical conductivity and Seebeck coefficient of sintered BSCF ceramics (Ba _(0.5)Sr _(0.5)Co _xFe _(1 - x)O _(3 - δ), 0 ≤ x ≤ 0.8) were simultaneously measured as a function of pO _2 (10 ~(- 5) ≤ pO _2 ≤ 1 atm) at 500 °C, 700 °C and 900 °C. All samples exhibited a positive Seebeck coefficient over the range of pO _2 and temperature examined, which indicates the predominance of p-type conduction. In all cases, conductivity increased with increasing pO _2, ranging from a minimum of ~ 0.6 S/cm (x = 0, pO _2 = 10 ~(- 5) atm, T = 900 °C) to a maximum of ~ 36 S/cm (x = 0.8, pO _2 = 1 atm, and T = 900 °C). At low temperatures and high pO _2, conductivity was approximately proportional to pO _2 ~(1/4), which was attributed to the reduction of B-site cations from their tetravalent to trivalent state. At low pO _2 and high temperature, the conductivity exhibited positive deviations from the pO _2 ~(1/4) dependence. At 500 °C and x ≤ 0.6, the Seebeck coefficient (Q) decreased linearly with increasing log pO _2. At 700 and 900 °C, Q vs. log pO _2 curves exhibited maxima at 10 ~(- 3) < pO _2 < 10 ~(- 1) atm, and the maxima shifted to higher pO _2 as x increased. A simple p-type polaron hopping model, assuming negligible contribution from n-type or ionic carriers, was used to extract the carrier concentration of the x = 0.8 sample from the measured thermopower data. The calculated hole mobility for the x = 0.8 sample was less than 0.1 cm ~2/V-s, confirming a p-type polaron-hopping model. This analysis, as well as analysis of Jonker plots, suggested that hole mobility decreased with decreasing pO _2.