Manganese olivine I: Electrical conductivity

To investigate the point defect chemistry and the kinetic properties of manganese olivine Mn₂SiO₄, electrical conductivity () of single crystals was measured along either the 100] or the 010] direction. The experiments were carried out at temperatures T=850–1200 °C and oxygen fugacities atm under both Mn oxide (MO) buffered and MnSiO₃ (MS) buffered conditions. Under the same thermodynamic conditions, charge transport along 100] is 2.5–3.0 times faster than along 010]. At high oxygen fugacities, the electrical conductivity of samples buffered against MS is 1.6 times larger than that of samples buffered against MO; while at low oxygen fugacities, the electrical conductivity is nearly identical for the two buffer cases. The dependencies of electrical conductivity on oxygen fugacity and temperature are essentially the same for conduction along the 100] and 010] directions, as well as for samples coexisting with a solid-state buffer of either MO or MS. Hence, it is proposed that the same conduction mechanisms operate for samples of either orientation in contact with either solid-state buffer.The electrical conductivity data lie on concave upward curves on a log-log plot of vs , giving rise to two regimes with different oxygen fugacity exponents. In the low- regime , the exponent, m, is 0, the MnSiO₃-activity exponent, q, is 0, and the activation energy, Q, is 45 kJ/mol. In the high regime , m=1/6, q=1/4–1/3, and Q=45 and 200 kJ/mol for T<1100 °c=" and=">T>1100 °C, respectively.