Electronic conductivity perovskite superconductors

Lao.8Sr0.2Y02.9 was more active than the LaY03 perovskite (table 8). The partial substitution of La by Sr increased the concentration of the oxygen vacancies and the valency of Y, without making it an electronic conductor. In other strontium-substituted perovskites, like the superconductor La2. cSrtCu03 <5, the Sr addition increased not only the vacancies of oxygen and Cu valency but also their electronic conductivities. Therefore,... 

Oxides play many roles in modem electronic technology from insulators which can be used as capacitors, such as the perovskite BaTiOs, to the superconductors, of which the prototype was also a perovskite, Lao.sSro CutT A, where the value of x is a function of the temperature cycle and oxygen pressure which were used in the preparation of the material. Clearly the chemical difference between these two materials is that the capacitor production does not require oxygen partial pressure control as is the case in the superconductor. Intermediate between these extremes of electrical conduction are many semiconducting materials which are used as magnetic ferrites or fuel cell electrodes. The electrical properties of the semiconductors depend on the presence of transition metal ions which can be in two valence states, and the conduction mechanism involves the transfer of electrons or positive holes from one ion to another of the same species. The production problem associated with this behaviour arises from the fact that the relative concentration of each valence state depends on both the temperature and the oxygen partial pressure of the atmosphere. 

The perovskite structure is capable of high anion conductivity when oxide vacancies are introduced, as in, for example, Lai (Sr Co03 (/2 or in the perovskite-related superconductor phases, La2Cu04 and YBa2Cu307. The oxide ion transport number is not unity since such materials are often electronic conductors as well, due to the presence of... 

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