Raman spectroscopic study of structure and crystallisation behaviour of MoO3-La2O3-B2O3 and MoO3-ZnO-B2O3 glasses

In this study, we focus on the structure and crystallization behavior of MoO3-La2O3-B2O3 and MoO3-ZnO-B2O3 glasses. Glasses of both systems were prepared by a melt-quenching method. The thermal stability of the glasses was examined using differential thermal anaysis (DTA) measurements, and the crystalline phases formed by heat treatments were identified by X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. Raman scattering spectra at room temperature for the glasses and crystallized samples were measured with a laser microscope operated with an Ar+ (wavelength: 488 nm) laser. DTA measurements indicated that the thermal stability against crystallization of the glasses decreases drastically with increasing MoO3 content. XRD analysis confirmed that crystallization at 600deg. C for 3 h of glass with the nominal composition of 50MoO3-25La2O3-25B2O3 resulted in the formation of monoclinic LaMoBO6. Crystallization of 50ZnO-xMoO3-(50-x)B2O3 glasses formed triclinic α-ZnMoO4 as an initial crystalline phase. Moreover, for 30 mol% MoO3 glass, transmission electron microscopy observations showed the formation of α-ZnMoO4 nanocrystals with a diameter of ∼ 5 nm. Raman bands at 860, 930 and 950 cm-1 suggested that the coordination state of Mo6+ ions in the glasses were mainly (MoO4)2- tetrahedral units. Therefore, MoO3-containing glasses have good potential for optical applications.