Low working voltage-driven ZnO-based varistor ceramics play an important role in the multilayer chip varistors, which require a low sintering temperature of ZnO varistor for its low energy consumption. Herein, a remarkable reduction of the sintering temperature from the usual 1100–1300 °C to 950 °C is successfully achieves in the ZnO ceramics via a certain 0.05 mol% of Cr₂O₃ dopants. The underlying mechanism is found to be involved with the formation of basal-plane inversion boundaries between the ZnO grains, which can promote the rapid grain growth within the ceramics. Furthermore, the ZnO varistors with 0.05 mol% Cr₂O₃ dopant exhibit excellent performance. A low breakdown voltage of 416 V mm⁻¹, a high nonlinear coefficient of 39, and a low leakage current of 3.4 μA are obtained simultaneously. This work presents an effective and promising approach for the cost-efficient preparation of high-performance ZnO-based varistors, which have particular significance for the application of multilayer chip varistors with low working voltage.

中文翻译：

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超低浓度 Cr2O3 掺杂驱动的低温烧结 ZnO 基压敏电阻陶瓷

低工作电压驱动的ZnO基压敏电阻陶瓷在多层片式压敏电阻中发挥着重要作用，其低能耗要求ZnO压敏电阻的烧结温度较低。_{在此，通过一定量的0.05 mol% Cr 2} O ₃掺杂剂，成功地将ZnO陶瓷的烧结温度从通常的1100–1300 °C显着降低至950 °C 。研究发现，其潜在机制与 ZnO 晶粒之间基面反转边界的形成有关，这可以促进陶瓷内晶粒的快速生长。此外，掺杂0.05 mol% Cr ₂ O ₃的ZnO压敏电阻表现出优异的性能。^{同时获得了416 V mm -1}的低击穿电压、39的高非线性系数和3.4 μA的低漏电流。这项工作为高性能氧化锌基压敏电阻的制备提供了一种有效且有前景的方法，对于低工作电压多层片式压敏电阻的应用具有特别重要的意义。