Abstract
In the literature, the electric modulus representation has been used to provide comparative analysis of the ion transport properties in different ion-conducting materials. In this paper we show that the modulus representation is not a suitable tool for such purposes. Our arguments derive from an examination of the scaling properties of both the ac conductivity σ*(ν) and the modulus M*(ν) which demonstrates how scaling that is inherent in σ*(ν) is lost in M*(ν) by inclusion of the high frequency permittivity ɛ′(∞), the latter quantity being unrelated to ion transport processes. Furthermore, we show how highly regarded shape changes of the modulus that occur with varying ion concentration are merely a manifestation of including ɛ′(∞) in the definition of M*(ν). We conclude then that the electric modulus formalism has resulted in misleading interpretations of the ion dynamics and, hence, should be discouraged.