Electron Transport Behavior of Multiferroic Perovskite BiMnO_3 Prepared by Co-Precipitation Method

Perovskite BiMnO_3 samples are successfully synthesized by the co-precipitation method at relatively low pressure and moderate temperature. The temperature dependences of resistivity are measured and systematically investigated. It is shown that the electrical resistivity increases sharply with the decrease of temperature above 210 K and the fitted results demonstrate that the thermally activated conduction model is the dominant conduction mechanism for the electron transport behaviors in this temperature region. A dual conducting mechanism, i.e., the variable range hopping and thermal activated conduction, is suggested to be responsible for the transport behaviors of BiMnO_3 in the region of 180–200 K. Moreover, the resistivity increases slightly with the decrease of temperature below 180 K and the transport is governed by the variable range hopping mechanism.