Structure of vitreous KPO3 studied by neutron and X-ray diffraction

The gain of information about the glass structure obtained by RMC simulations on the basis of neutron and X-ray diffraction results is demonstrated by vitreous KPO3. Details of the first neighbour P-O peak confirm the existence of ring and chain structures which are formed from two-fold linked PO4 units. The separation distance of these anionic molecular structures is determined by the dimension of the large K+ cations. The mutual arrangements of the modifier cations in their oxygen polyhedra form an interpenetrating substructure which surrounds the various forms of linked PO4 tetrahedra.