Abstract
Electrical conductivity measurements have been made on copper sulfide crystals of compositions ranging from Cu1.8S to Cu2.0S and indium-doped Cu1.8S in the temperature region between 20°C and 220°C. Conductivity of Cu2-xS varied from 0.07 ohm-1cm-1 to 2400 ohm-1cm-1 as the deviation from stoichiometry increased from x=0 to x=0.2. It was found that Cu1.8S (digenite) and Cu1.96S (djurleite) undergo phase transitions at 90°C and at 93°C respectively. The transition temperature of Cu2S (chalcocite) increased from 98°C to 108°C as conductivity decreased from 52 ohm-1cm-1 to 0.07 ohm-1cm-1. An analysis of mixed conduction at β phase of low conductivity copper sulfide has shown that ionic conductivity is independent of the composition or the number of impurity cations in this material, and exhibits a temperature dependence with activation energy of 0.24 eV. Finally it is emphasized, after the discussion of the relation between electrical properties and crystal structure of copper sulfides, that the composition and crystalline phase are well characterized by the electrical conductivity in these materials.