Abstract
Transparent glasses of the 1.2CaO–0.2MoO3–B2O3 system were fabricated using the conventional melt-quenching technique. The glasses were heat-treated above the glass transition temperature (Tg) to yielded nanocrystalline composites of CaMoO4 (CMO) and CaB2O4 (CBO). The structural characterization of as-quenched and heat-treated glasses corroborated the crystallites of CaMoO4 and CaB2O4 using powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Raman spectroscopy. The various morphologies of the samples were studied using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Optical transmittance spectrum for as-quenched glass shows, approximately, 77% transparency (uncorrected for the reflection losses) from 2600 nm to 325 nm with a lower cut-off wavelength at 324 nm. The optical band gap (Eg) and refractive index (η) of the as-quenched transparent glass were found to be 3.43 eV and 1.615, respectively. Room-temperature photoluminescence properties of the as-quenched and glass nanocrystal composites (GNC) exhibit broad blue emission with UV excitation wavelengths (using laser and Xe lamp). Such distribution of CMO crystallites of nano-dimensions embedded in borate glass matrix could be used for various PL applications.
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•Nearly 80% optically transparent borate-based CaMoO4 glasses were fabricated.•Heat treatment of the glasses resulted in bamboo-type CaMoO4 microstructures.•CaMoO4 glass-ceramics showed a bluish-white luminescence when excited with 355 nm laser.•CIE coordinates of the as-quenched glasses were close to that of pure white.