Hopping transport in vanadium tellurite glasses containing antimony oxide

Abstract

The electrical DC conductivity of the semiconducting vanadium tellurite glasses containing Sb₂O₃ is reported in the temperature range 80-500 K. The experimental results are interpreted in terms of polaron-hopping theories. At high temperatures, Mott's phonon-assisted nearest-neighbour hopping is consistent with the data, while at lower temperatures, the variable-range hopping mechanism is dominant. Schnakenberg's hopping model is found to be consistent with the data over the entire temperature range. The results suggest that the addition of Sb₂O₃ to binary vanadium tellurite glasses changes the nature of the hopping mechanism from non-adiabatic to adiabatic.