AC and DC conductivity study of LiH2PO4 compound using impedance spectroscopy

Abstract

The lithium dihydrogen phosphate LiH2PO4 has been investigated by X-ray powder diffraction, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and electrical impedance spectroscopy. The Rietveld refinements based on the XRD patterns show that the compound is crystallized in the orthorhombic system with Pna21 space group, and the refined unit cell parameters are a = 6.2428 A, b = 7.6445 A, and c = 6.873 A. The electrical properties were studied using complex impedance spectroscopy as a function of frequency (104–107 Hz) at various temperatures (300–400 K). The Nyquist plots are well fitted to an equivalent circuit consisting of a series of combination of grains and inhomogeneous electrode surface effect. The frequency dependence of the conductivity is interpreted in terms of Jonscher’s law. Moreover, the near value of the activation energies obtained from the equivalent circuit and analysis of M″ confirms that the transport is through ion hopping mechanism dominated by the motion of the proton in the structure of the investigated material.