γ-irradiation effect on the electrical properties of LiKSO4

The DC electrical conductivity, sigma, is measured for the polycrystalline LiKSO4 before and after gamma -irradiation in the 300-700 K temperature range. The log sigmaT-1000/T dependence for the unirradiated LiKSO4 reveals activation energy of conduction of 1.1 eV. A considerable decrease in the conductivity value accompanied by an increase in the activation energy is observed after gamma -irradiation. The current density (J)-electric field (E) characteristics are measured at different temperatures in order to estimate the type of conduction dominated and the effect of the electric field (E) upon the conductivity measurements of this material. Conduction parameters including Poole-Frenkel coefficient (beta (PF)), the depth of potential well (phi (P)) and dielectric constant (epsilon) have been determined. Isothermal annealing kinetics that investigated at different temperatures before and after gamma -irradiation indicates that the electrical conductivity decreases with time increase and the annealing process is dominated by unique rate process. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.