Glass former units and transport in ion-conducting network glasses

TL;DR

This paper introduces a theoretical framework linking the structural units in ion-conducting glasses to their transport properties, validated by experiments on borophosphate glasses, enhancing understanding of ion mobility mechanisms.

Contribution

It presents a novel theoretical approach connecting glass structure to ionic transport, incorporating thermodynamic modeling and experimental validation.

Findings

Good agreement with experimental data on borophosphate glasses

Re-distribution of Coulomb traps affects ionic mobility

Changes in glass composition influence activation energy

Abstract

A new theoretical approach is presented for relating structural information to transport properties in ion conducting network glasses. It relies on the consideration of the different types of glass forming units and the charges associated with them. Changes in the compositions of these units lead to a re-distribution of Coulomb traps for the mobile ions and to a subsequent change in long-range ionic mobilities. It is furthermore shown how measured changes of the unit compositions can be explained by thermodynamic modeling. The theories are tested against experiments on borophosphate glasses and yield good agreement with the measured data both for the compositional changes of the units and the variation of the activation energy.