Low temperature synthesis of sodium aluminosilicate glass-NaAlSi3O8

A process for making a sodium-ion conducting glass namely NaAlSi3O8 at a lo wer temperature has been described in this paper. This glass has been repor ted to have potential applications in various fields. The glass synthesized at a temperature, as low as 773 K was found to be phase-pure with no cryst alline impurities and was characterized for its electrical conductivity by AC impedance measurements. The activation energy for electrical conduction was determined to be 58.9 kJ mol(-1) and the conductivity at 773 K measured to be 5.2 x 10(-4) Omega (-1) cm(-1). The conductivity of the glass NaAlSi 3O8 was found to be higher when compared to a value of 4.3 x 10(-6) S Omega cm(-1) at 553 K for a glass with a higher content of Na2O (composition-Na2 O-20 m/o, Al2O3-4 m/o and SiO2-76 m/o) that is expected to exhibit a higher conductivity. It could be concluded that this method of synthesis yields a phase-pure material at lower temperatures when compared to those synthesiz ed by melting the constituent oxides. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All ri ghts reserved.