Influence of doping BiYO3 and Nb2O5 on PTCR characteristics of BaTiO3 thermistor ceramics

Nb2O5-doped (1 − x)Ba0.96Ca0.04TiO3–xBiYO3 (where x = 0.01, 0.02, 0.03 and 0.04) lead-free PTC thermistor ceramics were prepared by a conventional solid state reaction method. X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscope, Agilent E4980A and resistivity-temperature measurement instrument, were used to characteristic the lattice distortion, microstructure, temperature dependence of permittivity and resitivity-temperature dependence. It was revealed that the tetragonality c/a of the perovskite lattice, the microstructure and the Curie temperature changed with the BiYO3 content. In order to decrease the room temperature resistivity, the effect of Nb2O5 on the room temperature resistivity was also studied, and its optimal doping content was finally chosen as 0.2 mol%. The 0.97Ba0.96Ca0.04TiO3–0.03BiYO3–0.002Nb2O5 thermistor ceramic exhibited a low ρRT of 3.98 × 103 Ω cm, a typical PTCR effect of ρmax/ρmin > 103 and a Tc of 153 °C.