Silver ionic conductivity of mixed cationic glasses

Abstract

New families of glasses in the systems PbI 2–Ag 2O–TeO 2, PbI 2–Ag 2O–P 2O 5 and AgI–Ag 2O–TeO 2 have been prepared and investigated. The glass forming region corresponding to each system has been identified. The amorphous domain of AgI-containing glasses was found to be more extended than that of glasses containing PbI 2. Conductivity measurements revealed that the room temperature conductivity of PbI 2–Ag 2O–TeO 2 glasses is close to that of PbI 2–Ag 2O–P 2O 5, while that of glasses AgI–Ag 2O–TeO 2 is much lower. The conductivity of silver tellurite and silver phosphate glasses increases very rapidly when even a small amount of PbI 2 is added to the host glass network. But this initial large increase in conductivity is not observed when AgI is added to the silver tellurite network. The similarity observed between values of conductivity in both phosphate and tellurite glasses containing lead iodide is attributed to the similarity in the characteristics of interstitial spaces, which form due to introduction of PbI 2. This attribution is further confirmed by the observations based on the results of the activation energy for conduction, glass transition temperature and molar volume of the glasses.