Abstract
Glasses of the formula 30Ag
2
O⋅
x
B
2
O
3
⋅(70–
x
)TeO
2
(0 ≤
x
≤ 70 mol%) were prepared under normal conditions, followed by FTIR spectroscopy, density, molar volume, XRD, SEM, and dc conductivity studies. FTIR spectra were deconvoluted to track the change in the fraction of the TeO
4
and BO
4
units. FTIR results showed a linear decrease in both fractions of the
N
4Te
and
N
4B
units with B
2
O
3
content, while BO
4
and BO
3
units increased with nearly equal values up to 40 mol% B
2
O
3
. The rate of increasing BO
3
was greater than BO
4
units for glasses with > 40 mol% B
2
O
3
. Density linearly decreased, whereas molar volume increased when replacing TeO
2
with B
2
O
3
. XRD and SEM revealed formation of AgTeO
3
and AgBO
3
micro-crystallites depending on the concentration of B
2
O
3
. The introduction of B
2
O
3
into the Ag
2
O–TeO
2
network caused an increase in the conductivity up to 50 mol%, which decreased for further additions of B
2
O
3
content. Finally, the conductivity of the studied glasses was more strongly affected by the pre-exponential factor rather than the activation energy.