Structural and ionic conductive properties of Bi4V2−xTixO11−δ (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.4) compound

High conducting γ-phase can be stabilized at room temperature by substitution of various metal cations in bismuth vanadate known as Bi4V2−xMexO11−δ (Me = metal cation). In the present work, Ti2O3-doped Bi4V2−xTixO11−δ (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.4) samples were prepared by ceramic processing route and sintered over a range of temperature (750-825 °C) in the interval of 25 °C to study the influence of grain size and porosity on the ionic conductivity. A relation between microstructure, crystal structure and conductivity has been established using scanning electron microscopy, X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), a.c. impedance spectroscopy and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The study indicates that apart from phase stabilization, microstructure plays an important role to achieve high ionic conductivity.