Abstract
Ternary semiconducting glasses in the CuO–V
2O
5–TeO
2 system have prepared by the press-quenching technique. X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), differential scanning calorimeter (DSC), infrared (IR) spectra, density (
d) and oxygen molar volume (
V
m) and dc conductivity (
σ) of these glasses were reported. The overall features of XRD curves confirm the amorphous nature of the present glasses. SEM exhibits a surface without any presence of microstructure which is a characteristic of the amorphous phase. Density was observed to decrease with an increase in V
2O
5 content. The network structure for the glass compositions with 57.5
mol% V
2O
5 is built up of the VO
5 polyhedra, while the other glass compositions consist of VO
4 polyhedra. The temperature dependence of the conductivity data has been analyzed in terms of different polaronic models. In high-temperature region above
θ
D/2 the Mott model of SPH between nearest neighbors is consistent with the conductivity data, while at intermediate temperature the Greaves VRH (variable-range hopping) model was found to be appropriate. The conduction was confirmed to obey the adiabatic SPH and was mainly due to electronic transport between V ions. The dominant factor determining conductivity was the hopping carrier mobility in these glasses.