Compositional dependence of the electrical conductivity of calcium vanadate glassy semiconductors

Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X- ray diffraction (XRD), density (d), oxygen molar volume (V_m) and dc conductivity of different compositions of calcium vanadate glasses are reported. SEM exhibits a surface without any presence of a microstructure which is a characteristic of the amorphous phase. The overall features of these XRD curves confirm the amorphous nature of the present glasses. Density was observed to decrease with an increase in V₂O₅ content. The experimental results were analyzed with reference to theoretical models existing in the literature. It has been observed that the high-temperature conductivity data are consistent with Mott's nearest-neighbor hopping model. However, both Mott variable-range hopping (VRH) and Greaves intermediate range hopping models are found to be applicable. The hopping at high temperatures in the calcium vanadate glasses occurs by non-adiabatic process in contrast to the vanadate glasses formed with conventional network formers. The hopping model of Schnakenberg can predict the temperature dependence of the conductivity data. The percolation model of Triberis and Friedman applied to the small polaron hopping (SPH) regime is also consistent with data. The various model parameters such as density of states, hopping energy, etc., obtained from the best fits were found to be consistent with the glass compositions.