Structural and electrical behaviour of Pb(Mn1/4Cu1/4Mo1/2)O3 ceramics

The polycrystalline samples of Pb(Mn 1 / 4 Cu 1 / 4 Mo 1 / 2 )O 3 were synthesized by a high-temperature solid-state reaction technique. A preliminary X-ray structural study of the compound at room temperature shows the formation of a single-phase compound with a non-centrosymmetric space group P22 1 2 of orthorhombic structure. Studies of dielectric constant (e) and loss tangent (tan δ) both as a function of frequency (500 Hz-10 kHz) at room temperature and temperature (-100-250 °C) at 10 kHz suggest that the compound undergoes a phase transition at 57 °C. The activation energy (E a ) of the compound was calculated from the plot of dc conductivity versus inverse of absolute temperature. Variation of dc resistivity with electric field (8.55-85.47 kV/m) at room temperature and variation of dc resistivity (10 1 2 -10 1 6 Ωm) with temperature (100-300 °C) at a constant electric field of 85.47 kV/m showed the semiconductor characteristics of the material.