A. Pryor
1964
Citations
0
Influential Citations
15
Citations
Journal
Journal of Nuclear Materials
Abstract
Abstract Assuming that beryllium oxide consists of Be 2+ and O 2- ions, the lattice energy and compressibility are computed. The poor agreement with experimental values shows that the ionic hypothesis is an unacceptable description of beryllium oxide. Computations show that the energy of formation of doubly-ionized point defects is very high, which indicates that they could not be formed thermodynamically and, probably, that they could not even exist in the lattice. Measurements of the electrical conductivity are reported and have been interpreted tentatively by assuming that beryllium oxide is an intrinsic electronic semi-conductor, with a band gap of about 5.2 volts. In vacuum, strong surface conduction effects, which are ionic in character, are also present; these are suppressed by the adsorption of any gas. Irradiation damage lowers the volume conductivity.