It is shown that conductivity and molar volume in binary rubidium and cesium silicate glasses, both measured at room temperature, obey a common cubic scaling relation due to increase in alkali content. The drastic drop in conductivity up to 15 orders of magnitude for so many ion-conducting binary alkali silicate glasses (in wide composition range) is mainly caused by the structure and the ion content. In particular, it is suggested that the glass network expansion, which is related to the available free volume, is a parameter that could explain the increase in ionic conductivity for these binary systems.
Glass; Ionic conduction; Anderson-Stuart model; Free volume; Alkali silicate
