Effect of WO3 Doping on Microstructural and Electrical Properties of ZnO-Pr6O11 Based Varistor Materials

The effect of WO3doping on microstructural and electrical properties of ZnO-Pr6O11based varistor materials was investigated. The doped WO3plays a role of inhibitor in ZnO grain growth, resulting in decreased average grain size from 2.68 to 1.68 μm with increasing doping level of WO3from 0 to 0.5 mol%. When the doping level of WO3was lower than 0.05 mol%, the nonlinear current-voltage characteristics of the obtained varistors could be improved significantly with increasing amount of WO3doped. But when the doping level of WO3became higher, their nonlinear current-voltage performance would be dramatically deteriorated when more WO3was doped. The optimum nonlinear coefficient, varistor voltage, and leakage current of the samples were about 13.71, 710 V/mm and 13 μA/cm2, respectively, when the doping level of WO3was in the range from 0.03 to 0.05 mol%.