Synthesis, characterization and electrical conductivity studies on A3Bi2P3O12 (A = Na, K) materials

Crystalline Na3Bi2P3O12, K3Bi2P3O12 and glassy K3Bi2P3O12 compounds were prepared by solid-state reaction method. The prepared samples are characterized by X-ray powder diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and differential scanning calorimetry. The crystalline materials are found to be orthorhombic. The electrical conductivity measurements on the crystalline and glassy samples show that at ∼373 K, the σDC for crystalline K3Bi2P3O12 (0.81 × 10−8 S/cm) is about two orders of magnitude higher than the corresponding glassy phase (1.25 × 10−10 S/cm). The scaling results show that the conductivity relaxation mechanism is independent of temperature.