Structural, thermal, dielectric and ac conductivity properties of lithium fluoro-borate optical glasses

Transparent and stable glasses in the chemical composition of Li2O-LiF-B2O3-MO (M = Zn and Cd) have been prepared by a conventional melt quenching method. For these glasses, absorption spectra, structural (XRD, FT-IR, and Raman spectra), thermal (TG-DTA and DSC), dielectric (epsilon', epsilon, tan delta), ac conductivity (sigma(ac)), and electric modulus (M' and M) have been investigated. Amorphous nature of these glasses has been confirmed from their XRD profiles. The LFB glasses with the presence of ZnO or CdO an extended UV-transmission ability has been achieved. The measured FT-IR and Raman spectra have exhibited the vibrational bands of B-O from [BO3] and [BO4] units and Li-O. The dielectric properties (tan delta, dielectric constant (epsilon'), dielectric loss (epsilon)), electrical modulus and electrical conductivity (sigma(ac)) of these glasses have also been studied from 100 Hz to 1 MHz at the room temperature. Based on the trends noticed in the ac conductivities, the present glasses could be found useful as battery cathode materials. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd and Techna Group S.r.l. All rights reserved.