Structural Characterization of Borate Glasses Containing Zinc and Manganese Oxides

Abstract

We have investigated the effect of inclusion of two transition metal ions (TMI) on structure and optical properties of borate glass system having composition xMnO2 – yZnO – (100 – x – y) B2O3 (9 ≤ x ≤ 12, 36 ≤y ≤ 48) prepared by melt quenched route. Thermal study by using a differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) reveals that the glass transition temperature (Tg) and crystallization temperature (Tc) of the glasses increases with the increase of borate content in the system. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectra indicate that inclusion of TMI produces BO3 and BO4 structural units by breaking the boroxol (B3O6) ring. The optical band gap energy estimated from ultraviolet-visible spectra shows a decreasing tendency when TMI are incorporated in the borate structure.