A Novel Low-Temperature-Fired Multifunctional Varistor-Magnetic Ferrite Materials

Abstract

A novel low temperature-fired (950°C) multifunctional varistor-magnetic ferrite materials can be obtained by adding V2O5 into CuCr0.2Fe1.8O4 ferrites. The relationship between the grain-boundary composition and varistor properties were investigated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), energy dispersion spectroscopy (EDS), and X-ray photoelectric spectroscopy (XPS). The addition of V2O5 can effectively reduce the sintering temperature of CuCr0.2Fe1.8O4 ferrites to temperatures of lower than 950°C. Moreover, the V5+ ions occupied the octahedral site of spinel structure and acted as donor dopant, which resulted in the semiconductive grain. The copper-rich observation at the grain boundary based on the TEM and EDS results implied that copper oxide would possibly develop at the grain boundary as the acceptor state, forming double Schottky barriers with the n-type semiconductor grains.