Structural, optical, thermal and other physical properties of Bi2O3 modified Lithium Zinc Silicate glasses

A series of 60SiO(2)-15ZnO-(25-x)Li2O-xBi(2)O(3) glasses with x = 0, 5, 10, 15 and 20 mol% were synthe-sized using conventional melt-quenching method and their amorphous nature was ascertained by X-ray diffraction technique. The variation in physical parameters viz. density (rho), crystalline volume (V-c), molar volume (V-m) and oxygen packing density (OPD) with composition of as- prepared glass samples has been analyzed. The physical properties related parameters such as average value of silicon- silicon (Si-Si) separation < d(Si)(-Si)>, polaron radius (R-p), Bi3+ ion concentration (N), bismuth yield field strength (F) and interionic distance (R-i) have been determined. Investigations of infrared and Raman spectra reveal that tetrahedral [ZnO4] and [ SiO4] structural units are main building blocks of glass network, whereas, Bi2O3 exists as both network modifier octahedral [BiO6] and network former pyramidal [BiO3] structural units. Optical bandgap energy (E-g) values determined by UV-VIS-IR spectroscopy indicate a decreasing trend with increasing Bi2O3 %. The as-prepared glasses possess relatively high values of the optical basicity (1.069-1.208), electronic oxide ion polarizability (4.522-7.893 angstrom(3)), third order non-linear optical susceptibility (0.086-0.922 x 10(-11) esu) and metallization criterion (0.2991-0.4396) thereby implying that the present glasses may be suitable in non-linear optical applications. (C) 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

A series of glasses with varying compositions were synthesized using a conventional method, and their physical properties were analyzed. The glasses showed potential for applications in nonlinear optics.