Optical and structural properties of Sr-Nb-phosphate glasses

This research studied optical and structural properties of SrO-Nb₂O₅-P₂O₅ glasses containing 0 ~ 25 mol% Nb₂O₅ and 35 ~ 60 mol% SrO using spectra of UV-Vis, FTIR and XPS. Our aim was to work new moldable glasses which are colorless with high refractive index and transmittance, and their correlation with glass structure. Nb₂O₅ plays the role as an intermediate of glass formation, and transforms the role to network-former or glass-modifier depending on composition. Refractive index increases monotonically with Nb₂O₅ content at the expense of transmittance, and specific coloring which occurs in ternary compositions with the ratio P₂O₅/SrO > 1. This effect arises from much increased [Nb³⁺ and Nb⁴⁺] fraction, as quantitatively deconvoluted in Nb3d XPS spectra, in the ligand [NbO₆]_octahedral which is supported by FTIR and O1s XPS spectra. As the ratio P₂O₅/SrO ≤ 1, Nb₂O₅ is more of a network former and [NbO₆]_octahedral structure turns into [NbO₄]_tetrahedron with partial Nb-O…(Sr) bonding turns into (Nb-O-Nb)_tetrahedron, coloring disappears.