Structural and electrical properties of mixed oxides of manganese and vanadium: A new semiconductor oxide thermistor material

Binary oxides of manganese and vanadium have been synthesized by solid state sintering, in which the mass ratio of the individual components Mn2O3 and VO2 have been varied from 90:10 to 5:95. The bulk ceramic samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive X-ray analysis. The initial compositions either rich in Mn2O3 or in equi-proportion by mass with VO2 yield β-Mn2V2O7 or a new crystalline form of Mn2V2O7, with unit cell parameters: a = 7.73091 Å, b = 6.640788 Å, c = 6.70779 Å α = γ = 90° and β = 98.7086° which is designated as γ-Mn2V2O7. The compositions, richer in VO2 produce MnV2O6 co-existing with V2O5 the proportion of which increases with increase in VO2. The surface microanalysis shows a spherical-granular morphology in Mn2V2O7 structure and plate/rod-like structures co-existing with granular morphology in case of MnV2O6 together with V2O5. The electrical parameters of the negative temperature coefficient thermistors were determined. Depending on the constituent oxide composition, the NTC thermistors showed room temperature resistivity in the range of 6.52 × 102 to 6.1 × 106 Ω-cm. The thermistor constant and activation energy are in the range of 0.12–0.458 eV and 1393–4801 K, respectively.