Composites were prepared which contained highly dispersed alumina with a specific area of 270m2/g. It was found that, as the alumina concentration was increased, the temperature (and heat of transformation) of the super-ionic phase transition decreased. The average grain size of the AgI decreased with increasing alumina content. When the latter was greater than 60%, the AgI grain size became less than 100mn. The phase transition, which was very sharp in AgI, became diffuse at alumina contents above 60%. The absolute values of the conductivities of both phases approached each other. It was suggested that all of these features could be explained in terms of a strong interface interaction between the AgI and the alumina; leading to the stabilization of a metastable highly-disordered AgI state at low temperatures. The properties of the composites were sensitive to agents which adsorbed at the alumina surface.

N.F.Uvarov, E.F.Hairetdinov, B.B.Bokhonov, N.B.Bratel: Solid State Ionics, 1996, 86-88[1], 573-6