15.2 Vibrational Spectroscopy as a Tool to Study
of Disordered Structure
Due to the lack of long-range order in amorphous structure, the choice of one
specific experimental method that constitutes a fundamental tool for their structural
analysis is very difficult. In the case of crystalline materials, X-ray diffraction is
seen as that method and is most frequently used for the aforementioned analysis.
However, it requires, as in the case of most diffraction methods, order that extends
over the area of several hundred interatomic distances. Thus, it cannot be directly
used to determine glass structures, in which such order is not present.
Regardless of the glass structure model taken under consideration, the only order
that can be stated with certainty in this material is so-called short-range order, i.e.,
order that extends only to the closest coordination zones around a given atom or
Fig. 15.4 m-SiO 2 structure
according to Görlich’s
domain theory.
High-temperature cristobalite
domains are connected with
each other in a statistically
ordered way
15 Spectroscopic Characterization of Silicate Amorphous Materials
463
of Disordered Structure
Due to the lack of long-range order in amorphous structure, the choice of one
specific experimental method that constitutes a fundamental tool for their structural
analysis is very difficult. In the case of crystalline materials, X-ray diffraction is
seen as that method and is most frequently used for the aforementioned analysis.
However, it requires, as in the case of most diffraction methods, order that extends
over the area of several hundred interatomic distances. Thus, it cannot be directly
used to determine glass structures, in which such order is not present.
Regardless of the glass structure model taken under consideration, the only order
that can be stated with certainty in this material is so-called short-range order, i.e.,
order that extends only to the closest coordination zones around a given atom or
Fig. 15.4 m-SiO 2 structure
according to Görlich’s
domain theory.
High-temperature cristobalite
domains are connected with
each other in a statistically
ordered way
15 Spectroscopic Characterization of Silicate Amorphous Materials
463