Formation, structural and optical characterization of neodymium doped-zinc soda lime silica based glass

Abstract

New glass system of neodymium - doped zinc soda lime silica glass has been synthesized for the first time by melt-quenching of glass waste soda lime silica (SLS) with zinc oxide (ZnO) as precursor glass and Nd2O3 as dopant. In order to examine the effect of Nd3+ on the structural and optical properties, the prepared sample of structure [(ZnO)0.5(SLS)0.5](Nd2O3)x (x = 0, 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 wt%) was characterized through X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, UV-Vis spectroscopy (UV-Vis) and the photoluminescence (PL). XRD pattern justifies the amorphous nature of synthesized glasses. FTIR spectroscopy has been used to observe the structural evolution of ZnO4 and SiO4 groups. The UV-Vis-NIR absorption spectra reveals seven peaks centered at excitation of electron from ground state 4I9/2 to 4D3/2 + 4D5/2 (~360 nm), 2G9/2 + 2D3/2 + 2P3/2(~470 nm), 2K13/2 + 4G7/2 + 4G9/2 (~523 nm), 4G5/2 + 2G7/2 (~583 nm), 4F9/2 (~678 nm), 4S3/2 + 4F7/2 (~748 nm) and 4F5/2 + 2H9/2 (~801 nm). PL spectra under the excitation of 800 nm display four emission bands centered at 531 nm, 598 nm, 637 nm and 671 nm corresponding to 4G7/2 → 4I9/2, (4G7/2 → 4I11/2, 4G5/2 → 4I9/2), (4G5/2 → 4I11/2) and (4G7/2 → 4I13/2, 4G5/2 → 4I11/2) respectively.