Effect of sintering on electrical properties of yttrium doped Li-based NASICON compounds

Electrical properties of Lithium based Li1.3Al0.3-xYxTi1.7(PO4)(3) (LAYTP) system was prepared using solid state reaction route. The samples were subjected to differing duration of sintering. X-ray diffraction was used to investigate the microstructure while density measurement was performed to determine the effect of sintering on the density of the prepared samples. Electrical properties of the material were studied using impedance spectroscopy, in frequency range 20 MHz to 1 Hz and in temperature range 303 K to 423 K. It was found that sample with least amount of yttrium and which was sintered for least duration had superior conductivity over other samples. It was also found that grain boundary conductivity improved marginally for sample with higher proportion of yttrium heat treated for longer duration.