Cation mobility and kinetics of ion exchange in zirconium hydrogen monothiophosphate hydrate, Zr(HPO(3)S)(2)x1.5H(2)O.

The ion conductivity of zirconium hydrogen monothiophosphate (Zr(HPO(3)S)(2)x1.5H(2)O) has been measured by impedance spectroscopy. The measured value of proton conductivity is 3 x 10(-5) S/cm at 298 K. Conductivity was shown to decrease with increasing temperature due to a dehydration process. Above 450 K, the conductivity is likely governed by proton transport in the anhydrous phase Zr(HPO(3)S)(2). The activation energies of proton conductivity were measured to be 18 +/- 2 kJ/mol for Zr(HPO(3)S)(2)x1.5H(2)O and 60 +/- 3 kJ/mol for the anhydrous compound. The kinetics of ion exchange was studied with the use of potentiometric titration for several ion pairs, H(+)/Na(+), H(+)/Zn(2+), and Na(+)/Zn(2+) in Zr(HPO(3)S)(2)x1.5H(2)O. The diffusion coefficient values for H(+)/Na(+) ion exchange in Zr(HPO(3)S)(2)x1.5H(2)O are lower than those reported in alpha-zirconium phosphate. At the same time, the mobility of zinc ions in Zr(HPO(3)S)(2)x1.5H(2)O is higher than sodium ion mobility. The ion exchange H(+)/Zn(2+) is accompanied by the slow hydrolysis of the initial compound. In all cases, the powdered solids were evaluated by powder X-ray diffraction, and particle sizes were controlled by grinding and sieving the powders.