Structural and luminescence properties of Eu3+/Dy3+ embedded sodium silicate glass for multicolour emission

Rare earth Eu3+/Dy3+ ions doped/co-doped Na2O-SiO2-ZnO (NSZO) glasses were prepared by the conventional melt-quenching method. The amorphous nature of the prepared glasses was confirmed by the X-ray diffraction analysis and scanning electron microscopy whereas elemental compositions and mappings had been obtained from energy dispersive spectroscopic images. The Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and Differential thermal analysis had been done to investigate the presence of the vibrational bands and thermal behaviour of the prepared glass, respectively. The X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy measurements confirmed the defect related emission from ZnO as well as the bridging and non-bridging oxygen in the NSZO glasses. A near white light emissionwas observed from the Dy3+ doped NSZO glass, while a yellow-red emission was observed from the Eu3+ doped and Eu3+-Dy3+ co-doped NSZO glasses. These NSZO glasses might be applicable for multicolour lighting applications in future. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.