A model for the heat of transport in ionic conductors

The ion flow caused by a temperature gradient originates the ionic thermopower which is quantified by the heat of transport. Experimentally, it is known that in superionic conductors, the heat of transport Q is nearly equal to the activation energy for ion transport E_a. In the present paper, a model for the heat of transport in ionic conductors has been proposed based on a lattice dynamical theory of diffusion. We have shown that the relationship between Q and E_a is determined by the participation degree of different phonon modes, in particular the short wavelength phonons to the atomic jump processes. The implication of this finding to the transport properties of superionic conductors has been discussed, and it is suggested that the degree of the collective motion in ionic conductors increases with the increase in Q/E_a. The model predicts that good ionic conductors will show large value of Q/E_a. The importance of the acoustic phonons in the ion transport processes has been also pointed out.