Spectroscopic Study on Eu3+ Doped Borate Glasses Containing Ag Nanoparticles and Ag Aggregates

Transparent Eu(3+)-doped borate glasses containing Ag nanoparticles and Ag aggregates with composition (40 - x) CaO-59.5B2O3-0.5Eu2O3-xAgNO3 were prepared by a simple one-step melt-quenching technique. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns of the glasses reveal amorphous structural properties and no diffraction peaks belonging to metal Ag particles. Ag particles and Ag aggregates were observed from the absorption spectra. Effective energy transfers from the Ag aggregates to the Eu3+ ions were observed in the excitation spectra from monitoring the intrinsic emission of Eu3+x .5D0 --> 7F2. The glasses with higher Ag content can be effectively excited by light in a wide wavelength region, indicating that these glasses have potential application in the solid state lighting driven by semiconductor light emitting diodes (LEDs). The emission spectra of the samples with higher Ag contents exhibit plenteous spectral components covering the full visible region from violet to red, thus indicating that these glass materials possess an excellent and tunable color rendering index. The color coordinates for all the glass samples were calculated by using the intensity-corrected emission spectra and the standard data issued by the CIE (Commission International de l' Eclairage) in 1931. It was found that the color coordinates for most samples with higher Ag contents fall into the white region in the color space.