Synthesis, optical and electrical conduction mechanisms of Tetrametylammonium-nonachlorodiantimonate semi-conductor

Along with structural and optical studies, the temperature and frequency dependence of the electrical and dielectric properties of the [(CH 3 ) 4 N] 3 Sb 2 Cl 9 compound were investigated and analyzed. Rietveld's refinement of XRPD data confirmed hexagonal symmetry, belonging to the P63/mmc space group. Optical absorption measurement confirmed the semiconductor characteristic with a band gap around 3.4 eV. The differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analysis showed an endothermic peak at 435 K upon heating which is ascribed to a second-order phase transition. The Nyquist plots (− Z’’ vs Z’) revealed the contribution of grains and grain boundaries in the electrical study, confirming a non-Debye type relaxation. The ac conductivity measures confirmed the presence of the phase transition around 435 K. The conductivity obeys the Arrhenius law with activation energies of 0.8 eV in regime I and 1.13 eV in regime II. The AC conductivity follows Jonscher’s law, The Correlated Barrier Hopping model (CBH) was developed to elucidate the conduction mechanism. Graphical abstract