Electrical conductivity and tracer diffusion in sodium germanate glasses

Measurements of the electrical conductivity using ac complex impedance techniques and the tracer diffusion coefficient of ²²Na have been performed in a series of (x)Na₂O(1?x) GeO₂ glasses (where 0.0006 ? x ? 0.156). The compositional form of the Haven ratios, calculated from these data, have been interpreted in terms of a single defect model which considers a number of distinctly different jump frequencies for the alkali ion; the magnitude of these different jump frequencies is determined by the proximity of the diffusing alkali ion to a charge-compensating center within the glass network. Attractive interactions between the positive alkali ions and the negative charge-compensating centers cause successive jump directions of the alkali ions to become correlated. In the sodium germanate glasses the negatively-charged centers probably correspond to the six-fold coordinated sites formed upon addition of alkali oxide to GeO₂. These negatively-charged trapping centers correspond to non-bridging oxygen sites in alkali silicate glasses.