Phase Transition and Structural Defects in Complex Iron-Containing Oxide Glasses Probed by Positron Annihilation

Abstract:

Glasses with the compositions (100-x)(0.16Na₂O/0.10MnO/0.74SiO₂)/xFe₂O₃ (x = 0-15 mol%) were prepared and characterized using positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy (PALS) and coincidence Doppler broadening (CDB) spectroscopy. The PALS method applied seems to be sensitive to verify the Verwey phase transition, discovered for bulk magnetite (Fe₃O₄), from a high-temperature ‘bad metal’ conducting phase to a low-temperature insulating phase occurring at about 120 K in the glasses examined. It means that at relatively low concentration of Fe₂O₃ up to 15 mol%, the magnetite crystals could be synthesized in the amorphous matrix of Na₂O/MnO/SiO₂/Fe₂O₃ glass that is important for numerous practical applications. The CDB measurements showed that the majority of positrons in the glass samples studied are annihilated in the vicinity of oxygen anions and iron-oxide containing glasses have lower concentration of oxygen-vacancy defects compared to the non-iron containing base glass.

• Periodical: Solid State Phenomena (Volume 374)
• Pages: 119-124
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4028/p-ofOO4M
• Online since: July 2025
• Authors: Taras Kavetskyy*, Ruzha Harizanova, Plamen Petkov, Jakub Čížek, Reinhard Krause-Rehberg, Ondrej Šauša, Bożena Zgardzińska, Ivailo Gugov, Arnold Kiv, Christian Rüssel
• Keywords: Magnetite Nanoparticles, Oxide Glasses, Positron Annihilation Spectroscopy, Vacancy-Type Defects, Verwey Transition

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