Structure studies of caesium and lithium borovanadate glass systems

The structures of lithium and caesium borovanadate (RLi2O.B2O3.KV2O5 and RCs2O.B2O3.KV2O5) glass systems have been studied using solid state nuclear magnetic resonance, electron paramagnetic resonance, and x-ray diffraction. Glass formation ranges for K values of 0·2, 0·4, and 0·6 were found from R=0 to 1·8 for the lithium borovanadates and R=0 to 2·8 for the caesium borovanadates. 11B NMR derived N4 data were used for predicting a simple mixing model in order to better understand how alkali cations are shared between the borate and vanadate short range units. A disproportionate sharing of the alkali oxide was found in both lithium and caesium borovanadates. An alkali preference for the vanadate glass network was observed