Experimental Investigations of Electrical Conduction in Borophosphate Glasses

Abstract

Two series of ten glass samples of borophosphate glasses incorporated with one alkali and alkaline metal ions prepared by standard melt quenching method in a muffle furnace at high temperature. All the collected samples were annealed to remove if any minor thermal strain is present. Room temperature density is measured by adopting Archimedes principle followed by molar volume is determined and it shows the opposite nature to the density. All the glass samples were characterized by XRD to confirm the non-crystallinity, DSC (Differential Scanning Calorimetry) to determine the glass transition temperature (Tg), glass crystalline temperature (Tc) and glass melting temperature (Tm). Also, they were characterized by FTIR (Fourier Transform Infrared Radiation) to represent the functional groups in glasses. DC conductivity was measured by adopting two probe method, the data was analyzed by using the Arrhenius equation in Mott s form and found interesting results and made use of mixed cation effect to explain them. AC conductivity was also measured and studied dielectric properties, impedance spectroscopy as well as complex modulus. Further, two more series of samples also, have been presented in this thesis each with eight samples in borophosphate glasses doped with one alkali and two TMI (Transition metal Ion). All the samples were characterized by XRD (X-ray diffraction) to test its non-crystallinity, room temperature density was determined and it shows non linear behavior. Its molar volume and dc conductivity were measured by using Mott s SPH (Small Polarons Hopping) model, similarly, VRH (Variable Range Hopping) model was used to analyze the low-temperature data and calculated various polaron related newlineparameters. newline newline