Charge carrier transport mechanisms in perovskite CdTiO3 fibers

Electrical transport properties of electrospun cadmium titanate (CdTiO3) fibers have been investigated using ac and dc measurements. Air annealing of as spun fibers at 1000 °C yielded the single phase perovskite fibers having diameter ∼600 nm - 800 nm. Both the ac and dc electrical measurements were carried out at temperatures from 200 K – 420 K. The complex impedance plane plots revealed a single semicircular arc which indicates the interfacial effect due to grain boundaries of fibers. The dielectric properties obey the Maxwell-Wagner theory of interfacial polarization. In dc transport study at low voltages, data show Ohmic like behavior followed by space charge limited current (SCLC) with traps at higher voltages at all temperatures (200 K – 420 K). Trap density in our fibers system is Nt = 6.27 × 1017 /cm3. Conduction mechanism in the sample is governed by 3-D variable range hopping (VRH) from 200 K – 300 K. The localized density of states were found to be N(EF) = 5.51 × 1021 eV−1 cm−3 at 2 V. Other VRH parameters such as hopping distance (Rhop) and hopping energy (Whop) were also calculated. In the high temperature range of 320 K – 420 K, conductivity follows the Arrhenius law. The activation energy found at 2 V is 0.10 eV. Temperature dependent and higher values of dielectric constant make the perovskite CdTiO3 fibers efficient material for capacitive energy storage devices.