Effect of co-doping Nb2O5 with equal amount of Eu2O3 or In2O3 on the electrical properties of TiO2-based varistors

In this work, TiO2 varistors with enhanced nonlinear coefficient, low breakdown voltage, high relative dielectric constant and low dielectric loss were fabricated by co-doping of Nb2O5 with equal amount of Eu2O3 or In2O3. The results indicated an appropriate proportion of dopant could improve the comprehensive performance of the varistors. For the TiO2–Nb2O5–Eu2O3 system, the breakdown voltage and relative dielectric constant of the samples decreased first and then increased, while the nonlinear coefficient increased first and then decreased with the increase of doping content, the best value appears at the doping content of 1.00 mol% (E1mA = 2.14 V/mm, α = 4.6, εr = 2.72 × 105, tanδ = 0.25). It is noted that the secondary phase formed on the grain boundary as Eu2Ti2O7, thus the growth of grain was hindered and the dielectric performances deteriorated. By contrast, for the TiO2–Nb2O5–In2O3 system, the secondary phase was not found. As a result, a low breakdown voltage, low dielectric loss and high nonlinear coefficient were obtained, reaching the best at the doping content of 5.0 mol% (E1mA = 4.6 V/mm, α = 8.4, εr = 1.85 × 105, tanδ = 0.16). The influence of this doping system on the electrical performance can be explained by Internal Barrier Layer Capacitance theory (IBLC), which is related to the potential barrier at the grain boundary.