Influence of Samarium doping on zinc borophosphate glasses

The use of rare earth metals as dopant components in oxide glasses is a new research field of inorganic optical functional materials due to the simple preparation process, stable chemical properties and high thermal stability. This study supplements and summarized results we have obtained in recent years. The focus is on samarium doped zinc oxide-rich borophosphate glasses. The obtained glasses were investigated by powder X-ray diffraction, differential scanning calorimetry, infrared spectroscopy and photoluminescence analysis. The synthesized Sm-doped borophosphates are predominantly homogeneous and non-hygroscopic. They are mainly amorphous with the presence of one or more crystalline phases in some of them Zn3(BO3)(PO4), Zn5B4O11, SmPO4 and ZnO. They have the typical structure of borophosphate glasses the presence of PO4 tetrahedra and BO4 tetrahedra. The Sm-doped ZnO-rich borophosphate glasses have a potential for practical application in optical devices for engineering, electronics and medicine.