Structure and luminescence properties of Cu+ doped glasses prepared by ion exchange

Doped Cu+ glass was prepared by ion exchange method. It was found that the accumulation zone of copper ions would be formed on the glass surface during the process of ion exchange, and there was an extreme point of copper ion distribution concentration about 10 µm inside the glass surface after ion exchange. The exchange depth of copper ions in the sample increased with the increase of ion exchange time. At low ion exchange temperatures, the Cu elements exchanged into the vitreous body exists in the form of Cu+ and Cu2+. With the exchange of Cu+ into the glass, the degree of polymerization of the glasses continued to increase. By raising the ion exchange temperature, a large number of spherical Cu2O grains formed on the surface of the sample, continuing to raise the temperature, these spherical grains agglomerated and adhered to form lamellae structure, mainly composed of oxides of Cu2O and CuO. The PL spectra showed that the ion-exchanged glass exhibited broadband blue-green emission light with a central wavelength of 468 nm and half-height width of 154 nm under 290 nm excitation. The luminescence intensity appeared to increase firstly and then decrease with increasing the ion exchange time. Dispersed spherical Cu2O grains were generated on the surface of the sample exchanged at 410 °C for 16 h. Co-composite luminescence of the spherical Cu2O semiconductor and the Cu+ doped in the glass effectively increased the luminescence intensity of the samples. In addition, the samples showed a favorable thermal stability of luminescence.