Characterization and Luminescence Properties of Mn-Doped Zinc Borosilicate Glasses and Glass-Ceramics

Zinc borosilicate glasses and their corresponding glass-ceramics in the system 55ZnO-25SiO2-20B2O3 (mol%) with different concentrations of MnO were prepared. The effect of MnO addition and heat treatment on phase formation, microstructure and photoluminescence properties of the glasses and glass-ceramics were characterized by means of DTA, XRD, SEM and photoluminescence spectroscopy. Differential thermal analysis (DTA) shows enhancement in the crystallization process after addition of Mn2+. From XRD, zinc borate phases are the primary crystallized phases followed by zinc silicate at higher temperature. Furthermore, cubic zinc borate and silicate phases were facilitated with increasing either the time or temperature of heat treatments. Photoluminescence results indicate the presence of Mn2+ ions in octahedral coordination in glass samples while Mn2+ ions enter the formed crystalline phases in glass ceramic samples and give their luminescence spectra according to this behavior.