Electrical properties and stability of Dy2O3-doped ZnO–Pr6O11-based varistors

The electrical properties and DC accelerated aging characteristics of ZnO–Pr₆O₁₁-based varistors were investigated with various Dy₂O₃ contents and sintering times. It was found that the Dy₂O₃ content and sintering time significantly affected electrical properties and their stability. The nonlinear exponent with increasing Dy₂O₃ content varied with ∨-shaped, reaching maximum of 58.6 at 1.0 mol% Dy₂O₃ for varistors sintered for 1 h and with ∧-shaped, reaching maximum of 46.3 at 0.5 mol% Dy₂O₃ for 2 h. The leakage current was in the range of 0.1–1.1 μA for varistors sintered for 1 h and 0.3–2.4 μA for 2 h. The increase of sintering time led to lowering of nonlinearity. The varistors with 0.5 mol% Dy₂O₃ sintered for 2 h exhibited the good stability, under DC stress of 0.95 V _{1 mA}/150 °C/24 h.     

The effects of Ni and Li doping on the performance of lithium manganese oxide material for lithium secondary batteries

Layered Li_0.7[M_1/6Mn_5/6]O₂ (M=Li, Ni) was synthesized using a sol-gel method. P2-Na_0.7[M_1/6Mn_5/6]O₂ precursor was first synthesized by a sol-gel method, and then O2-Li_0.7[M_1/6Mn_5/6]O₂ was prepared by an ion exchange of Li for Na in P2-Na_0.7[M_1/6Mn_5/6]O₂ precursor. From charge/discharge curves, it was seen that Li_0.7[Li_1/6Mn_5/6]O₂ has two plateaus similar to those observed from a spinel structure, but Li_0.7[Ni_1/6Mn_5/6]O₂ holds a single plateau as observed from a typical layered structure. It was considered that Li_0.7[Li_1/6Mn_5/6]O₂ undergoes a phase transformation from layered to spinel structure during the charge/discharge cycle, but Li_0.7[Ni_1/6Mn_5/6]O₂ maintains O2-layered structure after the cycles. Li_0.7[Ni_1/6Mn_5/6]O₂ was higher in discharge capacity and retention rate than Li_0.7[Li_1/6Mn_5/6]O₂.     

Suppression of superconductivity in the Er1− x Pr x Ba2Cu3O7−δ

Measurements of electrical resistivity. X-ray diffraction patterns, magnetic susceptibility and thermoelectric power of the Er_1-x Pr _x Ba₂Cu₃O_7- system have been made. The superconducting transition temperature was found to decrease monotonically with praseodymium concentration, x. From the susceptibility data, it was determined that the valence of praseodymium lies between +3 and +4. The thermoelectric power was found to increase with x, and the slopes of dS/dT were negative except for the case x= 0. The. tendency of the thermopower to change with increasing praseodymium concentration has been qualitatively explained using the theory for strongly correlated systems.     

Electrical properties and stability against DC accelerated aging stress of lanthania doped praseodymia-based zinc oxide varistor ceramics

The microstructure, electrical properties, and stability against DC accelerated aging stress of the varistor ceramics, which are composed of ZnO–Pr₆O₁₁–CoO–Cr₂O₃–La₂O₃-based ceramics, were investigated for various La₂O₃ contents. The increase of La₂O₃ content led to more densified ceramics, whereas abruptly decreased the nonlinear properties by incorporating beyond 1.0 mol%. The highest nonlinearity was obtained from 0.5 mol% La₂O₃, in which the nonlinear exponent is 81.6 and the leakage current is 0.1 μA. As the La₂O₃ content increased, the donor concentration increased in from 0.64 × 10¹⁸ to 16.89 × 10¹⁸/cm³ and the barrier height greatly decreased with increasing La₂O₃ content, reaching a maximum (1.47 eV) in 0.5 mol% La₂O₃. The varistors doped with 0.5 mol% La₂O₃ exhibited high stability, in which the variation rates of varistor voltage, nonlinear exponent, and leakage current were −1.14%, −3.7%, and +100%, respectively, for stressing state of 0.95 V _{1 mA}/150 °C/24 h.     

Evaluation of fracture toughness degradation of CrMoV rotor steels based on ultrasonic nonlinearity measurements

The objective of this paper is to develop a nondestructive method for estimating the fracture toughness (K _IC) of CrMoV steels used as the rotor material of steam turbines in power plants. To achieve this objective, a number of CrMoV steel samples were heat-treated, and the fracture appearance transition temperature (FATT) was determined as a function of aging time. Nonlinear ultrasonics was employed as the theoretical basis to explain the harmonic generation in a damaged material, and the nonlinearity parameter of the second harmonic wave was the experimental measure used to be correlated to the fracture toughness of the rotor steel. The nondestructive procedure for estimating theK _IC consists of two steps. First, the correlations between the nonlinearity parameter and the FATT are sought. The FATT values are then used to estimateK _IC, using theK _IC versus excess temperature (i.e.,T-FATT) correlation that is available in the literature for CrMoV rotor steel.     

Influence of SnO2 addition on the thermoelectric properties of Zn1 − xSnxO (0.01 ≤ x ≤ 0.05)

The grain size and the density of the Zn_1 − xSn_xO (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.05) samples decreased with increasing SnO₂ content. The addition of a small amount of SnO₂ (x ≤ 0.01) to ZnO led to an increase in both the electrical conductivity and the absolute value of the Seebeck coefficient, resulting in a significant increase in the power factor. The thermoelectric power factor was maximized to a value of 1.25 × 10⁻³ Wm⁻¹ K⁻² at 1073 K for the Zn_0.99Sn_0.01O sample.     

Nonlinear behavior of Tb4O7-modified ZnO-Pr6O11-based ceramics with high breakdown field

The effect of Tb4O7 on electrical behavior of the ZnO-Pr6O11-based varistor ceramics was investigated.Microstructural analysis indicated that the addition of Tb4O7 decreased average grain size from 3.6 to 3.2 μm and increased the sintered density from 5.58 to 5.68 g/cm3.As the amount of Tb4O7 increased,the breakdown field increased from 9393 to 12437 V/cm and the nonlinear coefficient increased from 50 to 65.The varistor ceramics added with 0.5 mol.% in the amount of Tb4O7 exhibited an excellent stability by exhibiting-0.1% in the variation rate of the breakdown field,0% in the variation rate of the nonlinear coefficient,and 8.8% in the variation rate of the leakage current density for DC-accelerated aging stress of 0.85 E1 mA/115℃/24 h.     

Low‐Temperature Sintering and Piezoelectric Properties of CuO‐Added KNbO3 Ceramics

Dielectric and piezoelectric properties of CuO‐added KNbO₃ (KN) ceramics were investigated. The CuO reacted with the Nb₂O₅, formed a CuO–Nb₂O₅‐related liquid phase during the sintering, and assisted the densification of the KN ceramics at low temperatures. Moreover, some of the Cu²⁺ ions replaced the Nb⁵⁺ ions in the matrix and behaved as a hardener. The dielectric and piezoelectric properties of the KN ceramics were considerably influenced by the relative density. The 1.0 mol% CuO‐added KN ceramic sintered at 960°C for 1.0 h, which showed a maximum relative density, exhibited a high phase angle of 86.9°, P_r of 14.8 μC/cm², and E_c of 1.8 kV/mm. This specimen also exhibited good dielectric and piezoelectric properties: ε^T₃₃/ε_o of 364, d₃₃ of 122 pC/N, k_p of 0.29, and Q_m of 611.     

An effective oxidation approach for luminescence enhancement in CdS quantum dots by H2O2

The effects of surface passivation on the photoluminescence (PL) properties of CdS nanoparticles oxidized by straightforward H₂O₂ injection were examined. Compared to pristine cadmium sulfide nanocrystals (quantum efficiency ≅ 0.1%), the surface-passivated CdS nanoparticles showed significantly enhanced luminescence properties (quantum efficiency ≅ 20%). The surface passivation by H₂O₂ injection was characterized using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, and time-resolved PL. The photoluminescence enhancement is due to the two-order increase in the radiative recombination rate by the sulfate passivation layer.