High-pressure studies on lithium fast-ion conductors

Abstract

The variation of resistivity of the lithium fast-ion conductor Li_3+y Ge_1-yO₄ (y = 0.25, 0.6, 0.72) has been studied with hydrostatic pressure up to 70 kbar and compared with that of Li_16-2x Zn_x (GeO₄)₄(x = 1, 2). Both types showed pronounced resistivity maxima between 20-30 kbar and marked decrease thereafter. Measurements as a function of temperature between 120-300 K permitted the determination of activation energies and prefactors that also showed corresponding maxima. The activation volumes (V) of the first type of compound varied between 4.34 to -4.90 cm3/mol at 300 K and decreased monotonically with increasing temperature. For the second type V was much smaller, varied with pressure between 0.58 and -0.24 cm³/mol, and went through a maximum with increasing temperature. High-pressure studies were also conducted on aged samples, and the results are discussed in conjunction with results of impedance measurements and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) studies. The principal effect of pressure appears to be variations of the sum of interatomic potentials and hence barrier height, which also causes significant changes in entropy.