Tungsten trioxide ceramics were prepared from nm-sized powder precursors. Thermoelectric properties of samples were investigated. The results demonstrated that ceramics prepared in this manner have improved electrical conductivity and Seebeck coefficient values. The power factor of these samples also improved markedly, the largest power factor being 0.027 μW m-1K-2 at 773 K.
To study the physical origin of the non-ohmic behavior of WO_3 ceramics,the effects of heat treatment in different atmospheres on WO_3 varistors were investigated.Experiments showed that there was a dependence of the nonlinear coefficient on thermal treatment under different atmospheres.Thermal treatments in argon and oxygen atmospheres at 900℃proved this dependence,and indicated that the nonlinear coefficient got significantly lower when the samples were thermally treated under argon atmosphere.Subsequent exposure to oxygen atmosphere at the same temperature led to the restoration of electrical properties.The result shows that the physical origin of the non-ohmic behavior of WO_3 ceramics is oxygen on the grain surfaces adsorbed by intrinsic defects.
