The effect of high hydrostatic pressure on the silver azide electrical conductivity

A study on the influence of high hydrostatic pressure on the electrical conductivity of silver azide single crystals at the ranges of temperature 263–373 K and pressure 10⁵−4 × 10⁸ Pa is described. Motional and formation activation volumes for intrinsic defects and activation energies of the processes have been determined. The theoretical estimates of the activation volumes in terms of Zener strain-energy model have been made, and were found to be in reasonable agreement with the values obtained from the experiment. The results support the view that silver azide has Frenkel disorder, transport in single cyrstals is generally ionic at low voltage, extrinsic under normal conditions, and occurs by the motion of interstitial ions. Conduction becomes intrinsic at temperatures above ~ 330 K. There are some differences between the data obtained for single crystals and those published for powder samples, which is probably related to the peculiarities of the powders.