Probing the structural and spectroscopic characteristics of Ag2O-modified Li2O–CaO–B2O3 glasses doped with Nd2O3

Currently, there is growing interest in Ag2O doping in oxide glasses through optimal selection of excitation wavelengths to achieve efficient luminescence via either up or down-conversion processes. In this present work, we report the influence of Ag nanoparticles/aggregates on the structural and spectroscopic characteristics of melt-quenched Ag2O- co-doped (19.5-x)Li2O+70B2O3+10CaO+0.5Nd2O3+xAg2O glasses. Systematic studies were conducted using XRD, Raman spectroscopy, HR-TEM, MAS-NMR, UV–Visible–NIR, Photoluminescence, and decay kinetics techniques. The XRD analysis conclusively indicates the absence of crystalline peaks. However, HR-TEM analysis showed a reduction in the size of AgNPs from 14 nm to 11 nm with an increase of Ag2O concentration from 0.25 mol% to 0.5 mol%, respectively. The RAMAN and MAS-NMR (11B and 7Li) revealed the modification in the local structure induced by the Ag2O as revealed by the predominant borate structural units, and silver (Ag) acted as a modifier in the glass matrix. The absorption spectra of all samples exhibit a characteristic peak of Nd3+ ions. Interestingly, the LCBNd0.5Ag0.5 glass sample exhibits the SPR peak at 416 nm, indicating that the lower limit of Ag2O in LCBNd0.5 is <0.5 mol%. Luminescence studies at different excitation wavelengths (350, 525, and 584 nm) reveal the predominant emission at 877 nm and 1058 nm, whose emission intensity increased with Ag2O concentration. Samples with Ag2O-doped LCBNd glasses exhibit identical lifetime values, indicating the absence of luminescence-quenching and the presence of Ag aggregates leading to the SPR effect. Based on our findings, the LCBNd0.5Ag0.5 sample demonstrated superior performance to other samples, with the highest emission under an excitation of 350 nm.