Influence of La doping on structure, AC conductivity and impedance spectroscopy of Ba2SnO4 Ruddlesden Popper oxide

Highlights: • Single phase samples of Ba_2-xLa_xSnO₄ (0 = x ≤ 0.10) are synthesized at 1000 °C. • The solubility limit of La is analyzed by XRD, Raman, and UV–Vis. study. • The AC conductivity of single-phase samples follow universal Jonscher's power law. • AC conduction mechanism is explained using OLPT model. • Contribution of grain/grain boundaries is analyzed by Impedance spectroscopy. A few compositions of (Ba_1-xLa_x)₂SnO₄ with $0\le x\le 0.10$ have prepared via solid-state ceramic route followed by calcination at 1000 °C for 8 h. The preliminary phase of samples has analyzed using XRD and found to be crystallized into tetragonal structure up to 4 atoms %. The solubility limit of La at Ba-site has reconfirmed using FTIR and Raman analysis. The AC conductivity spectra of single-phase samples follow universal Jonscher's power law ${\sigma }_{ac}={\sigma }_{dc}\left(1+{\left(\frac{f}{f_h}\right)}^n\right)$. Further, the thermal dependence of dc conductivity (${\sigma }_{dc})$ and hopping frequency ($f_h$), indicating the presence of Arrhenius type charge transport in the samples. Ghosh scaling applied to ${\sigma }_{ac}$ of all temperatures found to superimpose on a single master curve, indicates the invariance of conduction mechanism. The impedance spectroscopy studies reflect the major contribution of grain in the conduction and relaxation process of all sample. Based on present study, the present material can be potentially used in semiconductor devices, UV-detector, and mixed ionic and electronic conductor (MIECs) by utilizing absorption states and thermo-curves as metastable state.