Study of vibrational modes in superionic lithium oxide

Lithium oxide, like other superionics, finds several technological applications. These applications range from miniature light weight high power density lithium ion batteries for heart pacemakers, mobile phones, laptops computers, etc. to high capacity energy storage devices for next generation. It is also a leading contender for future fusion reactors to convert energetic neutrons to usable heat and to breed tritium necessary to sustain D–T (deuterium–tritium) reactions. In this work, the lattice dynamics of Li₂O have been carried out to study the fast ion phase and the diffusion behavior of lithium and oxygen ions. The investigation of this simple material is a reference point for understanding more complex metal-oxides. A modified rigid ion model has been used to study the phonons in lithium oxide by considering the interatomic interactions up to third nearest neighbor. The calculated results are compared and analyzed with available experimental results.