Synthesis of p-type and n-type nickel ferrites and associated electrical properties

We used sol-gel auto combustion to synthesize nickel ferrites of p-type and n-type conductivity by controlling the relative amounts of nickel and iron during synthesis. The obtained samples have been characterized by XRD, FE-SEM, electrical measurements and XPS. We observe huge differences in the effect of grain size on the electrical resistivity between the p-type and the n-type material when the grain size increases from nano to micro scale during annealing at temperatures from 900 degrees C to 1300 degrees C The observed resistivity decrease (due to grain size) is four orders of magnitude in the n-type nickel ferrite, whereas the p-type material remains virtually unaffected. We rationalize this drastic difference to stem from a reverse contrast of the surface (grain shell) versus bulk (grain core) conductivity between p- and n-type ferrite. With the grain shells in p-type the easier charge carrier path the effect of scatter at grain boundaries is accordingly diminished, whereas in the n-type charge transport properties are controlled by (the number of) grain boundaries in a conduction path. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights rcserved