ELECTRICAL-CONDUCTIVITY IN NONSTOICHIOMETRIC CERIUM DIOXIDE

The essential features of the electronic contribution to the electrical conductivity of non stoichiometric cerium dioxide, i.e. strong composition and temperature dependence of the mobility and of the activation energy may easily be understood in the frame of a simple model, taking into account long range Coulomb interactions associated with short range interactions. Energy parameters have been deduced from a purely thermodynamic analysis. Particularly, it has been shown that these interactions are the cause of the failure of mass action law to explain the puzzling rapid change of mobility in nearly stoichiometric oxide.