Temperature and frequency dependence of electric conductivity in nano-grained SiO2 exposed to neutron irradiation

We studied electric properties of SiO2 nanoparticles exposed to continuous neutron irradiation (2×1013 cm−2 s−1 neutron flux) for different periods up to 20 h and initial states. Electric properties of the samples before and after irradiation were studied in the 0.09 Hz-2.3 MHz frequency and 100-400 K temperature range. In the experiments the samples have been irradiated by up to 20 h. It has been shown that upon increasing irradiation period, electric conductivity of the samples increases. The formation of clusters in three different states and energies at low temperatures under the neutron flux effect has been revealed. In addition, activation energy was calculated from the temperature-dependent dielectric response data using the Arrhenius expression.