Chemical diffusion in non-stoichiometric cuprous oxide

The kinetics and thermodynamics of point defect diffusion in non-stoichiometric cuprous oxide, Cu2−yO, has been studied as a function of temperature (1173–1373 K) and oxygen pressure (102–7×104 Pa) using microthermogravimetric reequilibration technique. It has been shown that the defect diffusion coefficient of cation vacancies, constituting the predominant point defects in this oxide does not change with their concentration, clearly indicating that these defects do not interact and are randomly distributed in the crystal lattice. Consequently, cation vacancy diffusion coefficient, DV, being the direct measure of defect mobility, can be described by the following empirical equation:DV=3.0×10-3exp(-52.4kJmol-1RT)cm2s-1.