Glass formation and structural studies of glasses in the TeO2 – ZnO – Bi2O3 – Nb2O5 system

• Published in: Journal of non-crystalline solids Vol. 503-504; pp. 224 - 231
• Main Authors: Bachvarova-Nedelcheva, A., Iordanova, R., Ganev, Sv, Dimitriev, Y.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 15.01.2019
• Subjects: Glass formation; Structure; Thermal stability; Structure; Glass formation; Thermal stability
• ISSN: 0022-3093; 1873-4812
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jnoncrysol.2018.09.048

In this study we determined the glass formation region in the TeO2 - ZnO - Bi2O3 - Nb2O5 system. The investigation covers TeO2 - based glasses containing ZnO (from 10 to 40 mol%), Bi2O3 (6–10 mol%) and Nb2O5 (6–10 mol%). The glasses obtained were transparent and yellow in colour. The thermal stability of the samples determined by DTA was found to be about 100 °C. Some physical characteristics (density, molar volume, oxygen molar volume and oxygen packing density) were estimated as well. The analysis of IR spectra showed that the network of glasses consists mainly of TeO4 (tbp) units, while Raman spectroscopy revealed the existence of TeO4 (tbp), TeO3+1 and TeO3 (tp) units. The UV–Vis spectroscopy established a red shifting of the cut-off depending on composition and the glass rich in TeO2 exhibited cut-off at about 388 nm while that with low TeO2 content was 378 nm. •Glass formation region in the TeO2 – ZnO – Bi2O3 – Nb2O5 system was determined.•Structural, thermal and optical characterization of the multicomponent tellurite glasses was performed.•The short range order of glasses is determined by TeO4, TeO3+1, TeO3, NbO6, BiO6 and ZnOn (n = 4, 6) structural units.•ZnO demonstrates dual role during the amorphous network formation while N2O5 and Bi2O3 oxides act as modifiers.