J Mater Sci Technol ›› 2000, Vol. 16 ›› Issue (05): 521-524.

• Research Articles • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Negative temperature coefficient of resistivity in bulk nanostructured Ag

Yushuang LIU, Chimei MO, Weili CAI   

  1. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China
  • Received:1999-07-05 Revised:1999-08-16 Online:2000-09-28 Published:2009-10-10
  • Contact: Chimei MO

Abstract: The change of the temperature coefficient of resistivity (cr) with the particle size, d(p), and the grain size, d(c), in the nanostructured Ag bulk samples was investigated. d(p) and d(c) were controlled by heating the nano-Ag powders over the temperature range from 393 to 453 K. The electrical resistance measurements of the nanostructured Ag bulk samples obtained by compacting the Ag powders after heat treatments showed a change in the sign of alpha with d(p) and d(c). When d(p) and d(c) are smaller or equal to 18 and 11 nm below room temperature or 20 and 12 nm above room temperature, respectively, the sign of the temperature coefficient of resistivity changes from positive to negative. The negative alpha arises mainly from the high resistivity induced by the particle interfaces with very lowly ordered or even disordered structure, a large volume fraction of interfaces and impurities existing in the interfaces, and the quantum size effect appearing in the nano-Ag grains.

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