Influence of neutron flux, frequency and temperature to electrical impedance of nano silica particles

We studied electric impedance of SiO2 nanomaterial at its initial state and after being exposed to continuous neutron irradiation for up to 20 hours. In doing so we employed a flux of neutrons of 2x1013 n⋅cm−2s−1 while the frequency and temperature ranges amounted to 0,09 – 2.3 MHz and 100 – 400 K correspondingly. Analysis in terms of the Cole-Cole expression revealed that with increasing irradiation period the polarization and relaxation times decrease as a result of combination of nanoparticles. Moreover, it is demonstrated that the electric conductivity of samples, on the other hand, increases with the increasing irradiation period. At low temperatures formations of clusters at three distinct states with different energies were resolved.