Electrical and dielectric properties of the La0.4Bi0.3Sr0.2Ba0.1MnO3 ceramic synthesized by sol–gel method

We investigate the electrical and dielectric properties of the La0.4Bi0.3Sr0.2Ba0.1MnO3 manganite that is prepared by the sol–gel method. Over the explored temperature interval, our compound reveals a semiconductor behavior. At elevated temperatures, the transport properties are explained by the activation of the small polaron hopping mechanism. The variable-range hopping process dominates the electrical properties at low temperatures. In the intermediate temperature, the Shklovskii–Efros variable-range hopping model describes well the transport properties. The complex impedance and modulus results reveal the existence of non-Debye relaxation phenomena. The scaling behavior of the Z″ spectra indicates that the relaxation time distributions are temperature independent. The dielectric permittivity behavior is related to the presence of the space charge polarization effects. Thus, Maxwell–Wagner’s model is adopted to analyze the dielectric permittivity response of the material. The application of the modified Curie–Weiss law confirms the relaxor dielectric behavior of the material. The presence of confined charge carriers at the grain boundary region is confirmed by analyzing the temperature dependence of the blocking factor.