Physical and thermal properties of gold nanoparticles embedded Nd3+- doped borophosphate glasses: Spectroscopic parameters

Highlights: • Nd3+-doped zinc borophosphate glasses were investigated and characterized. • Highest thermal stability value is found to be 196.8 oC for the Au NPs content 1.5 mol%. • The optimum relative radiative parameters are obtained for 2P3/2→4F9/2 of BPZNA2. • Higher quantum efficiency (81.6%) has been noticed for the present glasses. • Results are improving the ability using this composition for the illumination applications. A series of glass with appropriate chemical compositions (48-x) B₂O₃–30P₂O₅–20ZnO–2Nd₂O₃-xAu, (0 = x ≤ 2.5 mol%) were prepared by using the melt quenching technique. The glass phase structure was confirmed with the aid of the X-ray diffraction (XRD) technique. The thermal characteristics of the prepared glass were approved by using the differential thermal analysis (DTA) technique. The highest thermal stability 196.8 °C were detected for the BPZNA4 sample, the glass tendency explained by calculating the Hruby's parameter (H), the maximum value of H parameter was detected for sample BPZNA4 with 1.984, this clearly shows the highest ability to form a glass. The optical properties were studied by using ultraviolet visible near infrared (UV–Vis–NIR) spectroscopy and the emission transitions studied by using photoluminescence spectroscopy (PL). The absorption spectra for the samples doped with Nd³⁺ ions show nine transitions, the photoluminescence spectra exhibited two emission transitions for green and red light emission due to tetrahedral symmetry and octahedral symmetry, respectively. The decay curves of Nd³⁺ ions were calculated for all the glass samples. It was shown that the lifetimes dependent on the concentration of Au NPs and the glass composition.