Electrical conduction in ternary Na2O-ZnO-B2O3 glasses; a unique dependence on the mobility of Na+ ions as main charge carriers

The glasses of the formula 10ZnO.xNa2O.(90-x)B2O3, 25ZnO.xNa2O.(75-x)B2O, x ZnO.10Na 2 O.(90- x )B 2 O 3 , and x ZnO.25Na 2 O.(75- x )B 2 O 3 were prepared using melt quenching method. The prepared glasses were characterized using FTIR, Dc conductivity, density and molar volume techniques. The Dc conductivity results indicate that the conduction in studied glasses strongly depends on Na2O content/or N (number of Na+ ions per cm3). The linear dependence of conductivity on mobility of Na+ ions, reveals that mobility is a basic parameter that determines conductivity and activation energy in all studied glasses. The structural analysis and the conduction results indicate that the mobility is dominated by N the number of Na+ ions per cm3, which depends on the concentration (x) of Na2O and the free volume. Regardless of composition, Dc conductivity, mobility, and activation energy showed a unique dependence on N number of Na+ ions per unit volume in all studied glasses.