Microwave heating for the production of red-emitting sintered waste glass containing rare-earth ions

Abstract

In recent years, the environmental impact caused by packaging wastes has become an increasing concern, and some of the wastes continue to be disposed improperly. Glass is one of the materials frequently utilized for packaging. The significance of energy efficiency and waste reduction has been acknowledged in this study. Consequently, we concentrated on the upcycle of glass wastes and the use of energy saving method such as microwave heating to prepare luminescent materials from the sintering of the waste glass powders. The effects of Eu2O3 concentrations (0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 wt%) on the structural and optical properties were investigated and studied. The XRD and FTIR analyses revealed the amorphous nature without the crystallization of the glasses and the formation of non-bridging oxygens (NBOs) within the glass network. The obtained Eu2O3-doped samples exhibited the red emission peak located at 611 nm with CIE 1931 chromaticity coordinates at about (0.65,0.36) and high color purity as high as 93 %. The overall results suggested that the microwave-heating method can be a novel method for the fabrication of luminescent materials.