Polaron hopping conduction in manganese borosilicate glass

A study on a novel material - manganese borosilicate glass without alkali metals, was reported. It was found that the obtained samples containing high amount of manganese oxide (60MnO-xSiO2-(40 − x)B2O3, x = 5, 10, 15, 20 and 30 mol%) were amorphous and homogeneous. XPS measurements showed that most of manganese ions are at oxidation level of Mn2 + ions and the mean oxidation level slightly moves toward higher value, with increasing in SiO2 content. The conductivity was described in the terms of thermally activated polaron hopping with a charge carrier centred on Mn ions. It was shown, that the conductivity strongly depends on the mean Mn-Mn distance.