Blue shift of plasmon resonance in Cu and Ag ion-exchanged and annealed soda-lime glass: an optical absorption study

Metal nanocluster composite glasses are formed by the ion-exchange technique of dipping the host matrix in the respective metal salt bath of interest. These ion-exchanged glasses are then annealed in air for 1 h at different temperatures. The optical absorption spectra of the ion-exchanged and annealed samples confirmed the presence of nano sized metal clusters embedded inside the glass matrix. With increase of the annealing temperature, the absorption peak of the Cu and Ag nanoparticles showed a blue shift which can be attributed to the change in particle size and volume fraction. Annealing of the sequential Cu and Ag ion-exchanged soda-lime glass resulted in the formation of complex metal nanocluster composite glass, with the optical spectra exhibiting two peaks corresponding to the surface plasmon resonance of both metals