The effects of SnO2 addition on the electrical degradation characteristics of Bi2O3-MnO2-Co3O4 -added
ZnO varistors were investigated by field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM),
energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and voltage-current (V-I)
characteristics. The ZnO grain size was made uniform by the addition of SnO2 or Sb2O3. The
nonlinearity index α of the V-I characteristic for Bi-Mn-Co-SnO2-added samples was approximately 50
and the varistor voltage was 120~140V/mm. The value of α after the electrical degradation showed a
local maximum at approximately 0.1mol% added SnO2 and then showed a local minimum at
approximately 0.5mol%, similar to the relative integral intensity of the XRD diffraction peak for the
(004) plane for a small amount of SnO2 added. It is suggested that the diffusion of oxygen ions through
the grain boundary is affected by the change in crystal orientation of ZnO grains at the grain boundary
induced by the addition of a small amount of SnO2.
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