Electronic and ionic conductivity in CaTiO3

The present work describes the electrical conductivity of undoped CaTiO₃ in terms of the electrical conductivity components corresponding to electrons, electron holes and ionic charge carriers in the temperature range 973 K — 1323 K and under controlled oxygen partial pressure (10 Pa — 72 kPa). These data are considered in terms of the transference numbers of the respective charge carriers. It appears that the ionic conductivity component assumes maximum at the n-p transition when the ionic transfer number reaches 50% of the total conductivity value at 1323 K. The present study also includes the determination of the activation energy of the conductivity component related to ions (162.1 kJ/mol), electrons (134.2 kJ/mol) and electron holes (86.2 kJ/mol). The data obtained in this work indicate that undoped CaTiO₃ exhibits a substantial level of ionic conduction that cannot be ignored in a quantitative analysis of electrical conductivity data.