Characterization of Waste Material Derived Willemite-Based Glass-Ceramics Doped with Erbium

Abstract

We reported, for the first time, to the best of our knowledge, the production of erbium doped willemite-based glass-ceramic using waste material. In this work, a willemite-based glass-ceramic was prepared from waste material to obtain excellent crystallinity and then doped with trivalent erbium (Er 3+ ) to yield ([(ZnO) 0.5 (SLS) 0.5 ] 1− x [Er 2 O 3 ] x ) final composition where<mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="M1"><mml:mi>x</mml:mi><mml:mo>=</mml:mo><mml:mn>3</mml:mn></mml:math> wt%. The samples were sintered at various temperatures (500–1100°C) to study the effects of sintering temperatures on microstructure and physical properties of the samples. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) were used to determine structural changes and functional groups in the samples, respectively. Field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) equipped with energy dispersive X-ray was used to observe surface morphology and to detect presence of elements in the samples. Findings showed that average grain size of the Er 3+ doped glass-ceramic sample increased as a function of the sintering temperature and the optimum temperature was 900°C.