Electrical conduction in alkali borate glasses; a unique dependence on the concentration of modifier ions

The electrical conduction of Li2O-B2O3, Na2O-B2O3 and K2O-B2O3 glasses seems, at first sight, to be dominated by the activation energy. Regardless of the size of the alkali ion, there is a unique dependence of conductivity, at a certain temperature, on the alkali-alkali distance and thus on N (the number of ions per cm3). The linear dependence of logσ on N-3/2 for all types of alkali ions reveals that N is the basic parameter that determines the conductivity at a certain temperature. A derived semi-empirical relation can be used to calculate the conductivity as a function of N and temperature