Complex impedance spectroscopy (CIS) study was carried 
out using the 4-electrodes cell arrangement with NASICON membrane. The 
physical model developed in this work was based on own CIS characteristic of 
the system NASICON/solution, and it accurately described the experimental 
diagrams. The electronic parameters could be determined from the fittings 
with the designed model

Deslouis, C.

Nga, Nguyen Tuyet

Son, Vo Thach

Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology: Journals Online

Communications in Physics, Vol. 14, No. 2 (2004), pp. 105– 110
INTERACTION MODEL OF THE INTERFACE NASICON
WITH AQUEOUS SOLUTION
NGUYEN TUYET NGA AND VO THACH SON
Institute of Engineering Physics, Hanoi University of Technology
C. DESLOUIS
Laboratoire Interface et Systems Electrochimique
CNRS UPR15, Tour 22- 4 Place Jussieu, 75252 Paris Cedex 05, France
Abstract. Complex impedance spectroscopy (CIS) study was carried out using the 4-
electrodes cell arrangement with NASICON membrane. The physical model developed in
this work was based on own CIS characteristic of the system NASICON/solution, and it ac-
curately described the experimental diagrams. The electronic parameters could be determined
from the fittings with the designed model.
I. INTRODUCTION
Impedance spectroscopy is a very useful technique for evaluating the electronic char-
acterization of different materials and processes. Giving an accurate model is very impor-
tant for the evaluation of impedance spectra of interested materials. Nevertheless, it is
not easy, for several classes of materials the suitable models are not even known yet.
An example is that for the polycrystalline mixed conductors with semi-blocking internal
and external boundaries (e.g. ceria, strontium titanate, mixed conducting cathode for
Li-batteries, etc.) [1].
A popular tool for modeling the impedance spectra is equivalent circuits. A well
known one is Randles circuit [2], which was derived for a simple electrode reaction in
liquid electrochemistry. The presence of more complicated electrochemical systems leads
to different modifications of Randles circuit. Often, the circuit is enriched intuitively
by connecting additional resistors, capacitors and diffusion elements. Equivalent circuits
also refer to polycrystalline materials. In such cases, not only electrodes but also grain
boundaries mark the impedance spectra. If a pure ionic conductor is considered (e.g. YSZ)
the presence of blocking grain boundaries can be described well by Bauerle’s circuit [3] (two
RC terms in series). If the fit of the measured data is not sufficiently good, the capacitors
are replaced by constant phase elements, and diffusion elements with powers different from
0.5 are introduced. The criterion for the choice of a proper circuit is the quality of fit. But,
as well known, several different circuits may fit the measured data with similar accuracy.
So depending on every real system of material, there will be a suitable equivalent circuit.
In this paper, we will focus on the modeling of the impedance spectroscopy of
NASICON ionic conductive material contacting aqueous solution.
106 NGUYEN TUYET NGA, VO THACH SON, AND C. DESLOUIS
II. EXPERIMENTAL
II.1 Materials
Experimental details of the procedure for the NASICON sample elaboration have
been described previously [4]. The NASICON of composition Na3Zr2Si2PO12 was synthe-
sized by the sol-gel process. Ceramic pellets were obtained by pressing in disk shape with
about 7mm of diameter and 1.5 mm of thickness, sintering under air, at 1100 oC during
3 hours. Purity of the sample and crystallographic structure of material were checked by
X-ray diffraction (XRD). It is well known that in the as sintered NASICON may exist an
excessive zirconia. In our case the NASICON containing a small amount of ZrO2 was ob-
served. The conductivity was determined by an ac impedance spectroscopy. The samples
used in the conductivity measurement have both two sides polished down to 1200 grit by
emery paper.
II.2. Four electrode impedance measurements
The impedance data were obtained using Autolab. A four electrode configuration
mode was used [4]. Silver electrodes were used as the reference electrodes. The membrane
was bathed on both sides by the same solution so that the measurement cell was strictly
symmetrical. Impedance measurements were performed in the frequency range 100kHz -
0.1mHz, with an applied ac signal of 10 mV at room temperature.
III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
III.1. Impedance model
The complex impedance diagrams of NASICON contacted 0.1M NaCl aqueous so-
lution after different times are presented in Fig. 1 and Fig. 2. They are of three loops.
Fig. 1. Complex impedance diagram of NA-
SICON contacted 0.1M NaCl aqueous solution
after 174 h and 484 h
Fig. 2. Complex impedance diagram of NA-
SICON contacted 0.1M NaCl aqueous solution
after 920 h and 1104 h
The first loop at high frequency (HF) is related to bulk electric properties of the
investigated material. The semicircle could characterized by a parallel R–C circuit and
INTERACTION MODEL OF THE INTERFACE NASICON ... 107
the impedance is given by:
Z =
R
1 + (jωτ)
(1)
with τ = RC - time constant.
However, as the material is not homogeniuos, HF loop does not display an ideal
semi-circle shape (Fig.1, 2) but a quite flattened one. In this case, bulk resistance Rb
is replaced by constant phase element CPE b, e.g., a Cole–Cole-type dispersion can be
imposed as follows:
ZHF =
Rb
1 + (jωτb)αb
(2)
where τb = RbCb , 0 < αb < 1 with Cb – bulk capacitance.
The equivalent circuit of the HF loop includes resistance Rb in parallel with the
CPE b. The high frequency intersection of the semi-circle with the real axis corresponds
to the total resistance of the NASICON membrance conducted to solution.
The second one at medium frequency (MF ) was contributed to the NASICON/solution
interface process. It was not a perfect semi-circle and was flatter when ion-exchange time
increased (Fig. 1, 2). So MF loop characterized by a parallel R–CPE circuit and the
imperdance ZMF is given by:
ZMF =
Ri
1 + (jωτi)αi
(3)
where Ri, Ci – interface resistance and capacitance with 0 < αi < 1.
The third loop at low frequency (LF) is generally assigned to slow transport pro-
cesses such as diffusion. The diffusion impedance in a medium of finite thickness without
convection (finite Warburg impedance) is calculated as in Ref. [5]:
ZLF = ZW = Rd
th(jωτw)αw
(jωτw)αw
(4)
with Rd - diffusion resistance, τw - time constant of impedance, and 0 < αw < 1.
The complete impedance Z is given by the sum of ZHF , ZMF and ZLF in Eqs.
(2,3,4). The actually measured impedance also requires to take into account the solution
resistance, RS :
Z = RS +ZHF +ZMF + ZLF = RS +
Rb
1 + (jωτb)αb
+
Ri
1 + (jωτi)αI
+Rd
th(jωτw)αw
(jωτw)αw
(5)
Thus, equivalent circuit of the investigated system was described as Fig. 3
Fig. 3. The equivalent electrical circuit of the investigated system
108 NGUYEN TUYET NGA, VO THACH SON, AND C. DESLOUIS
III.2. Fitting results
The different parameters of the equivalent electrical circuit were evaluated by means
of a simplex fitting procedure [6]. The fitting results show an excellent agreement between
the experimental and the theoretical diagrams as displayed in Fig. 4 and Fig. 5 in Nyquist
(imaginary vs. real component).
Almost all the parameters in Eq. 5 were estimated from fitting, some of them have
been determined directly from the measured impedance values. Resistance Rs is unchange
and estimted about 234 Ω.
Fig. 4. Experimental and theoretical impedance
diagrams after immersion during 484h
Fig. 5. Experimental and theoretical impedance
diagrams after immersion during 920h
In Table 1, the values of the fitted parameters are reported. αb, αi correspond to
the CPE exponent of the HF, MF loops. Rb, Ri and Rd are resistances of the bulk, NA-
SICON/solution interface and diffusion process respectively. τb and τi are time constants
of the bulk, the NASICON/ solution interface and the diffusional process. Cb, Ci were
determined from equation τ = RC.
Table 1. Value of the fitted parameters
Exposure
time (h)
τ b
10−8s
Rb
Ω
Cb
10−11F
αb τ i
10−3s
Ri
Ω
Ci
10−5F
αi Rd
Ω
174 5.14 736 6.98 0.71 1.94 188 1.0 0.45 96.6
284 2.83 806 3.51 0.64 2.17 95 2.3 0.42 346
335 2.34 856 2.73 0.51 3.27 79 4.1 0.49 99.4
462 1.86 876 2.14 0.49 3.59 81 4.4 0.46 117
484 2.09 886 2.35 0.50 3.50 83 4.2 0.45 255
575 7.26 946 7.67 0.47 4.22 72 5.8 0.48 146
790 1.96 866 2.26 0.43 3.96 72 5.5 0.46 402
920 2.36 866 2.72 0.42 5.33 65 8.2 0.47 126
1012 2.06 956 2.15 0.39 7.66 58 13.0 0.50 108
1104 2.25 956 2.35 0.38 9.38 59 15.0 0.47 264
INTERACTION MODEL OF THE INTERFACE NASICON ... 109
The parameter values of Table 1 point out the following conclusions regarding some
characteristics of the NASICON material.
The bulk resistance Rb increased while the bulk capacitance decreased when ion-
exchange time increased. The increase of the bulk resistance could be ascribed to leaching
of Na+ ions from NASICON with resulting decrease in charge carrier concentration in
electrolyte material as reported in Refs. [7,8].
The CPE exponent αb decreases which is suggested by grown-up of the pores of the
material. By contrast, the interface resistance Ri decreased and the interface capacitance
increased. It could be related to the collection of Na+ ions at NASICON/solution interface
as proposed in Ref [4]. The CPE exponent αi, displays slight evolutions for each sample
but is not far from 0.5 (ideal case) which is reasonable for a randomly dispersed micro
porous matrix as shown by SEM picture (Fig. 6).
a) b)
Fig. 6. SEM micrograph of NASICON. Global view (a) and magnification image (b)
The values of Rd proved for the diffusion process which was characterized by the
third loop at very low frequency of impedance spectroscopy.
IV. CONCLUSIONS
This work was intended to design a technique allowing access to some physical
parameters which characterize the NASICON material contacted sodium cloride solution.
The proposed technique consisted in analyzing impedance spectroscopy of the mate-
rial, in the so-called 4-electrodes cell arrangement which is currently used for investigating
the transport properties of organic membranes. In comparison with an impedance model
proposed here, the experimental data has provided changes of the NASICON electronic
properties such as resistance, capacitance, etc... when the membrane was immersed in
solution for a long period of time.
110 NGUYEN TUYET NGA, VO THACH SON, AND C. DESLOUIS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors would like to thank Dr. C. Deslouis, F. Haubert and colleagues from
the LISE, UPR 15 CNRS, France for their helpful assistance in carrying out this work.
REFERENCES
1. J. Jamnik, Solid State Ionics,157 (2003) 19
2. J.E.B. Randles, Discuss. Faraday Soc., 1 (1947) 11.
3. E. Bauerle, J. Phys. Chem. Solids, 30 (1969) 2657.
4. Nguyen Tuyet Nga, Vo Thach Son, Communication in Physics, 13 (2003) 252
5. J. B. Memet, P. Girault , R. Sabot , C. Compere , C. Deslouis, Electrochimica Acta, 47 (2002)
1043
6. J.A. Nelder, R. Nead, Comput. J., 7 (1965) 308.
7. Nguyen Tuyet Nga, Vo Thach Son, Tran Kim Lan, Phan Quoc Pho and Tran Viet Luc,
Proceeding of the fifth Vietnamese – German Seminar on Physics and Engineering, Hue, 25
February - 02 March, 2002, pp. 33
8. R.O. Fuents, F. Figueiredo, F. M. Marques, J. I. Franco, Solid State Ionics, 139 (2001) 309
Received 14 October 2003


Interaction Model of the Interface Nasicon with Aqueous Solution

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Interaction Model of the Interface Nasicon with Aqueous Solution

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