Mössbauer study of Sb and Fe impurities in semiconducting and insulating TiO2

An analysis is made of the state of Sb and Fe impurities introduced separately and jointly into TiO2. It is found that, irrespective of the concentration and synthesis conditions, antimony impurity atoms are characterized by the same state of Sb5+ ions, whereas the state of iron impurity atoms (Fe3+) depends on the above factors. Starting from the direct observation of trivalent titanium ions, the mechanism of converting TiO2 into a semiconductor by doping it with Sb2O5 or by reduction is discussed. Also discussed is the compensating effect of Fe2O3 impurity in antimony‐doped titanium dioxide, which effect consists in the „capturing”︁ of antimony atoms due to the chemical interaction, the most plausible mechanism of which is the formation of complexes. [Russian Text Ignored]