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The Tenth Borate Conference on Glass, Crystals, and Melts (Borate X) was held in July 2023 in Corning, NY and it honuored Efstratios “Stratos” Kamitsos. He is the leading advocate for the use of infrared and Raman spectroscopy in the study of glasses, with borate glasses having received considerably more attention than other glassy systems. For forty years he made essential discoveries of atomic‐level structure using these techniques in conjunction with other spectroscopies. Here, we review his personal life and present a selective, non‐comprehensive summary of his scientific accomplishments and his role as a teacher, mentor, and friend. 

Abstract In borate materials, boron is found predominantly in either trigonal planar, or tetrahedral coordination states with oxygen, which are the two most ubiquitous building blocks of borate glasses. The fraction of tetrahedral boron,N₄, is found to vary considerably with both glass composition and applied pressure, as well as with fictive temperature – a result of its underlying dependence on temperature in the molten and supercooled liquid states. As such, the parameterN₄is of fundamental structural importance, along with the mechanisms driving its evolution and its strong influence on thermophysical material properties.N₄in glasses has been experimentally determined using a variety of means including nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, vibrational spectroscopy, and x-ray and neutron diffraction. In this review, we discuss how the techniques for the measurement ofN₄have evolved and improved since the pioneering x-ray diffraction measurements of the 1930s, up to the present day. A database is compiled of the availablehigh-qualitynumerical experimental data forN₄, with a non-exclusive focus on binary borate glasses of the formRM₂O_z–B₂O₃whereRis the molar ratio of modifier to boron oxide andMis a metal cation of formal chargez+, other than boron. In addition, we report newN₄values for a series of strontium borate glasses, measured by¹¹B magic angle spinning NMR, where a disparity in the literature is found. Based on the findings of the review, we are able to point to the gaps in our knowledge where future resources could best be focused, as well as summarizing overarching trends, the present state-of-the-art, and making recommendations for best practices. 

In this work, the transport path of potassium ions in potassium borate glass and structural units, NBO and cavity occupancy that affect the transport of potassium ions were analyzed in detail.