Electrical conductivity and local structure of lithium iron tungsten vanadate glass

A relationship between physical properties and local structure of 20Li₂O·10Fe₂O₃·xWO₃·(70–x)V₂O₅ glass, abbreviated as xLFWV glass (x?=?0???25 in mol%), was investigated by ⁵⁷Fe-Mössbauer spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), differential thermal analysis (DTA), leaching test using 20 vol% HCl and DC two- or four-probe method. ⁵⁷Fe-Mössbauer spectra of xLFWV glass showed an increase of quadrupole splitting (Δ) from 0.67 to 0.73_±0.02 mm s^???1 and a constant isomer shift (δ) of 0.39_±0.01 mm s^???1 with an increase of ‘x’ from 0 to 25. This suggests that Fe^IIIO₄ tetrahedra gradually increase their local distortion along with a substitution of WO₃ for V₂O₅. DTA of xLFWV glass showed an increase in glass transition temperature (T _g) from 252 to 298 $_{pm 5}^{circ}$ C with an increase of ‘x’. Composition dependency of T _g and Δ indicates that Fe^III atoms occupy substitutional sites of WO₆ octahedra as network former (NWF), since a large slope of 680 K (mm s^???1)^???1 was obtained in T _g ? Δ plot. Comparable electrical conductivities (σ) of 2.5 × 10^???6, 1.9 × 10^???6, 8.4 × 10^???7 and 2.9 × 10^???6 S cm^???1 obtained for xLFWV glasses with ‘x’ of 0, 10, 20 and 25, respectively increased to 2.4 × 10^???2, 2.4 × 10^???3, 3.5 × 10^???4 and 8.8 × 10^???5 S cm^???1 after annealing at 400 °C for 100 min. Smaller Δ values of 0.58 and 0.67_±0.02 mm s^???1 obtained in annealed xLFWV glasses with ‘x’ of 0 and 10, respectively indicate that structural relaxation occurs in VO₄ units of vanadate glass units, as had been observed in other vanadate glasses.