Optical and electrical properties of the wide gap, n-type semiconductors: ZnBi2O6 and MgBi2O6

Abstract

Characterization of polycrystalline samples of the trirutile oxides ZnBi₂O₆ and MgBi₂O₆ reveals temperature independent conductivity (0.4 and 0.01 S cm⁻¹), a negative Seebeck coefficient (−0.035 and −0.025 mV K⁻¹), and an optical band gap that falls at the low energy end of visible region (1.7 and 1.8 eV), this combination of attributes, indicating that these compounds are degenerate n-type semiconductors, has not previously been observed in a Bi⁵⁺ oxide.