ELECTRICAL-PROPERTIES OF SILVER VANADATE ELECTROCHEMICAL-CELLS

The silver iodide based ternary system xAgI-yAg2O-zV2O5 (x = 10, 20, 30, ..., 90; y/z = 2) was prepared by rapid quenching of the melt at liquid nitrogen temperature. X-ray diffraction confirmed the glassy or polycrystalline nature of the powdered phases. The 70AgI-20AgO-10V2O5 phase has the highest room temperature (300 K) electrical conductivity of 0.011 S m-1 at 1 kHz. Scanning electron microscopy showed that the surface of the 70AgI-20Ag2O-10V2O5 as-quenched phase contains separate agglomerates. IR spectroscopy revealed bands at approximately 960, 920, 890, 850, 820 and 700 wavenumbers, indicating the possible existence of [VO4]3- clusters. Solid electrochemical cells fabricated from the phase with the highest electrical conductivity showed that the transference number is almost unity and that the phase is an ionic conductor. The internal resistance of this battery is approximately 460 OMEGA. When discharged at, a load current of 30 muA, the current density is 0.04 mA cm-2, the discharge capacity is 3.78 C, the power density is 0.012 W kg-1 and the energy density is 1.512 J g-1 for a circular cell of mass 1.55 g and a surface area of 1.3 cm2.