Glass formation and FTIR spectra of CeO2-doped 36Fe2O3–10B2O3–54P2O5 glasses

Abstract

Glasses with compositions xCeO2–(100−x)(36Fe2O3–10B2O3–54P2O5) (x=0, 3, 6, 9, 12, 15 and 18, mol%) are prepared by conventional melt quench method. Glass formation and structure of CeO2-doped iron borophosphate glass have been investigated by using X-ray diffraction and FTIR spectroscopy. The results show that the samples doped with less than 9mol% CeO2 are fully amorphous, crystallization occurs when the content of CeO2 reaches 9mol%, and the main crystal phase, monazite CePO4, is embedded in an amorphous matrix. When doped CeO2 reaches 18mol%, another crystal phase, FePO4, also crystallizes from the structure of the formed glass matrix, and immiscible solid formed in its appearance. IR data indicate that the studied glass structure consists predominantly of orthophosphate (Q0) units, pyrophosphate (Q1) units and [BO4] units. The glass transition temperature (Tg) is improved by doping with CeO2, which suggests that Ce acts a role of strengthening the cross-links between the borophosphate chains of the glasses.