Oxygen-excess amorphous SiO2 with 18O-labeled interstitial oxygen molecules

Abstract Exchange between oxygen molecules embedded in amorphous SiO 2 (interstitial O 2 ) and oxygen atoms in the a -SiO 2 network is found to be remarkably slow at 500 °C. Thermal loading of 18 O 2 at this temperature yields a -SiO 2 containing 18 O-labeled interstitial O 2 whose 18 O fraction is as high as ~ 90%. The 18 O fraction of interstitial O 2 in this sample is quickly decreased by thermal annealing at or above 700 °C because of the oxygen exchange accompanied by the release of 16 O from the a -SiO 2 network. This finding indicates that the oxygen exchange starts at much lower temperatures than indicated by previous works, based on monitoring of the isotopic composition of oxygen atoms in the a -SiO 2 network.