Preparation and characterization of negative temperature coefficient (Ni,Mn)₃O₄–La(Mn,Ni)O₃ composite

The composites made of spinel-structured (Ni,Mn)₃O₄ and perovskite-structured La(Mn,Ni)O₃ were investigated for potential application as negative temperature coefficient (NTC) thermistor. The composites were prepared using the standard ceramic route. The electrical resistivity of the composite at 25°C was found to decrease by one to two orders of magnitude depending the amount of the low-resistivity perovskite phase, while the thermal constant determining the temperature sensitivity of the NTC thermistor was still reasonably large in the range of 4,000 to 3,000 K, and the resistivity drift after annealing at 150°C for 1,000 h in air was relatively small (∼1.2%). The general effective media model was adopted to fit the electrical resistivity data of the composites, giving a value of 0.37 for the percolation volume fraction of the perovskite phase. This work demonstrates that it is possible to tune the electrical resistivity and thermal constant of the spinel-structured oxide through making composite with low-resistivity perovskite-structured oxide.