Effect of CuO addition on the high field and high pressure behaviour of microwave prepared lead vanadate glasses

Abstract

High-field and high-pressure behavior of microwave-prepared xCuO:(45-x) PbO: 55V₂O₅ (x = 0 to 20) glasses were investigated for the first time. It was found that the addition of CuO significantly alters the nonlinear I-V characteristics of these glasses; while the glasses with x = 10 exhibit a current-controlled negative resistance behavior associated with a memory type transition, glasses with x = 15 show a threshold-type behavior. Remarkable differences were also noticed in the high-pressure electrical resistivity behavior between the low- and high-CuO-containing glasses. Corroborative thermal, electrical, microscopic, and spectroscopic measurements were carried out to understand the structure-property relations. A structural model was proposed, which is based on the chemical nature of the constituents present in the glasses. The model accounts well for the various observed properties of these glasses.