Effect of ZrF4 on the physical and absorption properties of magnesium tellurite glass

Abstract

Tellurite glass containing zirconium fluoride (ZrF4) with composition of (90-x)TeO2- 10MgO-(x)ZrF4,where 0.0 ≤ x ≤ 6.0 in mol% has successfully been prepared by melt quenching technique. X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) pattern verified the amorphous nature of the glass. In this study, the physical and optical properties were investigated in term of density and absorption properties by using Archimedes method and UV-Vis Spectroscopy. It was found that glass density decreases in the range of 4.842 - 4.995 g cm-3 with the increase of ZrF4 concentration. Meanwhile, the molar volume is increased in the range from 29.566 to 30.593 cm3/mol with increase of ZrF4. The absorption edge is found to shift toward a higher wavelength as the ZrF4 concentration is increased. On the other hand, the optical energy band gap shows the decrement from 2.573 to 2.212 eV for indirect transition and from 3.044 to 2.927 eV for direct transition with the addition of ZrF4 concentration while the Urbach energy, increases from 0.302 to 0.498 eV with the increase of ZrF4. All the results will be discussed with respect to the glass composition.