Dense, crack-free, and uniform La 2 Mo 2Àx W x O 9 (x 5 0, 0.1, and 0.2) nanocrystalline films were successfully synthesized on poly-alumina substrates via a modified sol-gel method, with inorganic salt of La(NO 3 ) 3 . 6H 2 O, (NH 4 ) 6 Mo 7 O 24 . 4H 2 O, and (NH 4 ) 6 H 2 W 12 O 24 as precursors. Pure La 2 Mo 2 O 9 phase was confirmed by X-ray diffractometer when the annealing temperature was 45001C. The average grain size of the La 2 Mo 2Àx W x O 9 films is in the range of 90-400 nm, depending upon the conditions of thermal treatment, and the thickness of films can reach 1 lm by repetitive spin-coating. The electrical conductivity increases with decreasing grain size and reaches 0.074 S/cm at 6001C in the film with a grain size of 90 nm, which is one order of magnitude higher than that in the corresponding bulk materials. W-doping can suppress the phase transition that occurs at 5801C in pure La 2 Mo 2 O 9 and enhance the low-temperature ionic conductivity. Furthermore, the activation energy of conductivity in the nanocrystalline La 2 Mo 2 O 9 films decreases to about 0.6 eV in comparison with 1.0 eV in the bulk ones, which implies that the grain resistance prevails in the total resistance, when grain size reduces to nanometer domain.
J. Stevenson-contributing editorThis work has been subsidized by the