Influence of alkali and alkaline-earth metal oxides on Sm3+ ions-doped borate glasses: synthesis, structural, and optical investigations for reddish-orange solid-state-lighting applications

This work examines the effects of alkali and alkaline-earth oxides on the optical, structural, and physical characteristics of borate glasses doped with Sm3+ ions that are made using the melt quenching method. The prepared glass composition is 47H(3)BO(3) + 15x(2)CO(3) + 20Na(2)CO(3) + 17NaF + 1Sm(2)O(3) (x = Li, Na, K, Mg and Ca) and designates as BNNF:Sx series glasses. The X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), and Raman analyses were utilized to reveal the amorphous structure and the existence of functional groups in the prepared glass samples. The optical and radiative characteristics were assessed through an examination of absorption and emission spectra. The analysis of the absorption spectra reveals that the alkali elements exhibit higher band intensities, and all of the glasses exhibit an ionic bonding nature. In emission spectra, (4)G(5/2) -> H-6(7/2) represents the hypersensitive transition in the reddish-orange region. Among BNNF:Sx series, BNNF:SNa and BNNF:SMg glasses have higher stimulated emission cross section (sigma(E)(p)) and branching ratio (beta(R)) in alkali and alkaline elements, respectively, favorable for solid-state-lighting applications. The Commission International de I'Elcairage (CIE) diagram indicates that the prepared glasses containing alkali elements are situated within the red region, while glasses containing alkaline elements are located within the red to yellow region. This information is relevant to the context of Reddish-Orange solid-state-lighting applications. The nonexponential decay curves were obtained for all the prepared glasses, and the quantum efficiency is calculated and tabulated.