Zinc phosphate glass surfaces studied by XPS

X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy measurements of zinc phosphate glasses with compositions between 30 and 50 mol% P2O5 were used to determine the influence of systematically varied P2O5 content on the oxygen bonding of the glass network. Oxygen 1s spectra of zinc phosphate glasses are described in terms of bridging and non-bridging oxygens which are separated by 1.5 eV. The orthophosphate-like oxygen bonding is obtained for binary zinc phosphate glass containing 33 mol% P2O5. The bonding becomes progressively metaphosphate-like with increasing P2O5 content and is correlated with the relative proportions of bridging and non-bridging oxygens.