DC and thermal conductivity of lithium zinc phosphate glasses

Abstract

The phosphate glasses, with composition (60-x)P2O5-25ZnO-(15+x)Li2O where 0.0 ≤ x ≤ 5.0 mol% are prepared by conventional melt quenching method. The amorphous nature of the glass is determined by X-Ray Diffraction (XRD). The physical properties are measured in term of their density and molar volume. Glass density is found to increase from 2.700 to 2.785 g cm-3 whereas molar volume is found to decrease from 40.735 to 37.488 cm3 mol-1 with respect to Li2O content. The DC measurements are done by using four point probes and the activation energies are determined. Arrhenius plot shows straight line behavior as observed that confirmed the conductivity increased with Li2O content. The activation energy is found to decreases from 0.75 to 0.08 eV as Li2O content is increased in the temperature range from 310 to 420 K. Measurements of the thermal conductivity using Lee’s disc apparatus have been made. It is observed that the maximum and minimum thermal conductivity are 0.2679 and 0.2168 W m-1 K-1 respectively.