Role of ZnO in Dc Electrical Conductivity of Lithium Bismuthate Glasses

Abstract

Glasses of various compositions belonging to the Bi 2 O 3 -B 2 O 3 -ZnO-Li 2 O quaternary system were prepared using melt quench technique. Dc electric measurements were done on the samples, and activation energies are determined. Arrhenius plots showed straight line behaviour. It is observed that the conductivity of the samples increased with temperature and also with Li 2 O content, whereas the activation energy decreased with Li 2 O content. The isothermal plots for constant ZnO and constant Bi 2 O 3 glasses revealed that the conduction in these glasses is due to lithium ions only. The isothermal plots for constant lithium containing glasses varied nonlinearly with two maxima, which is attributed to mixed former effect. The variation is explained based on Anderson-Stuart model.