Electrical conductivity of copper lithium phosphate glasses

Copper based oxide glasses are especially interesting for the possibility of ionic-electronic mixed conduction, which has potential applications in energy and switching devices. Accordingly, lithium metaphosphate glasses are investigated within the (100-x) Li2O - xCu2O - 50P2O5 series, where Li+ ions are gradually replaced by copper ions. Based on the changes in glass transition temperature and thermal stability via structural modification, the glasses are shown to be predominantly ionic conductors. In fact, they exhibit signs of classic mixed mobile ion effect (MMIE), a hallmark of ion conduction in glass, which would be due to Li+ and Cu+ ions in the present case.