Effect of Ce-chemical nature on the structural, thermal, and optical and optoelectronic properties of Ce@Na2B4O7 oxide glasses

This study focuses on how the chemical makeup of the glass' basic components affects the glass' structure and optical characteristics. Four glass samples have been created for this purpose using the chemical formula; 94 mol% Na₂B₄O₇—(6-x) mol% CeO₂ – x mol% Ce(NO₃)₃, where 0 ≤ x ≤ 6. The Ce cations in this formula have two separate chemical sources, CeO₂ and Ce(NO₃)₃, with CeO₂ eventually being replaced by Ce(NO₃)₃. The standard melt-quenching technique was used to prepare the studied glasses. While X-ray direction (XRD), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and UV–vis were used for the structural and optical characterizations. XRD patterns revealed the short-range order glass networks for the prepared samples, while DSC thermograms showed that when CeO₂ was replaced with Ce(NO₃)₃, the glass transition temperature (T_g) decreased, causing the glass stability to improve. The optical characterization resulted in the finding that when CeO₂ was replaced with Ce(NO₃)₃, the Urbach's energy increased with a decrease in bandgap energies, which reflects an increase in the glass homogeneity. Finally, the results may imply that Ce(NO₃)₃-based glasses can be proposed for usage in applications for UV blockers, radiation shielding, light attenuation, and n-type semiconductors.