Fabrication, physical, structural, and optical investigation of cadmium lead-borate glasses doped with Nd3+ ions: An experimental study.

Cadmium lead-borate reinforced with Nd³⁺ ions glass systems in the composition (60 − x) B₂O₃+20CdO+20PbO+xNd₂O₃, where x = (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 wt%) were prepared using the melt and quench method. The fabricated glasses were coded as BCPNdx. The direct effect of Nd³⁺ ions on fabrication, physical, structure, and optical characteristics of the fabricated glasses has been investigated. XRD patterns confirmed that all fabricated glasses were in amorphous state. Density was increased from 5.034 g/cm³ for BCPNd0 (with free Nd³⁺ ions) to 5.282 g/cm³ for BCPNd5 (with 5 wt% of Nd₂O₃). Both indirect and direct optical band gaps (E_g) were found to increase from (1.52 to 2.57 eV) and (1.95 to 3.19 eV), respectively, with the increase in the content of Nd₂O₃. Urbach energy ( E U ) values of the synthesized glass samples decreased by the increase in Nd₂O₃ content and changed inversely with (E_g) of the samples. Values of the oscillator energy (E_o) of the fabricated glasses varied from 2.58 to 6.34 eV, while the dispersion energy (E_d) varied from 3.34 to 8.41 eV. Real part of dielectric values decreases with the increase in the wavelength up to 350 nm, and then stays almost constant, with minor differences between different samples. Both bulk energy loss and surface energy loss increase with the increase in Nd³⁺ content corresponding to an increase of the bulk and surface energy loss. The amorphous nature of the glasses can be identified from the broad peaks of FTIR absorbance spectra. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]