Investigation of structural, thermal, and electrical characteristics of zirconium-doped lithium-phosphate glasses

Zirconium-lithium-phosphate glasses were elaborated through the melting-quenching technique. The primary objective of this research is to investigate how the replacement of lithium oxide with zirconium oxide impacts the physical, thermal, mechanical, and electrical properties of the fabricated glasses. The result showed that the vitreous materials were obtained with a ZrO₂ content lower than 1 mol%. Furthermore, it is found that incorporating ZrO₂ in the glassy phosphate framework affects mal compatibility and increases the durability of the glassy samples. Analyzing the mechanical performance reveals that the incorporation of ZrO₂ leads to enhancements in the elastic constants of the glasses, including the longitudinal modulus, shear modulus, Young's modulus, bulk modulus, and Poisson coefficient. The bond strengths are used to calculate and explain the glasses' Vickers hardness values. On the other hand, the infrared (IR) spectroscopy results reveal that replacing Li₂O with ZrO₂ oxide in the glassy matrix causes significant structural changes. Finally, the dielectric features of the prepared glasses versus frequency and temperature are analyzed. The significance lies in the fact that the replacement of lithium with zirconium leads to a reduction in the ionic conductivity of the glasses.