Small polaron hopping conduction in tellurium based glasses containing vanadium and antimony

The dc electrical conductivity of semiconducting oxide glasses in the (60 − x)V2O5–40TeO2–xSb2O3 system with 0 ≤ x ≤ 10,prepared by press quenching method, was studied at temperatures between 305 and 472 K. For the present glasses, the dc conductivities at 334 K were 2.67 × 10 − 6–4.35 × 10 − 5 Scm − 1, indicating that the conductivity increased with increasing V2O5 concentration. From the conductivity–temperature relation, it was found that the small polaron hopping (SPH) mechanism was applicable at the present temperatures, and the electrical conduction was due to non-adiabatic SPH of electrons between vanadium ions. For glasses with 5 ≤ x ≤ 10, the value of tunneling factor (α) was found to be 2.67 × 108 cm− 1.