Impact of heat treatment on the Mn2+ doped transparent glass ceramics containing NaZnPO4 nanocrystals

Mn2+ doped transparent glass ceramics are obtained via melt-quenching and subsequent heating of glass with a composition of 20Na2O-42ZnO-28P2O5-10B2O3 (mol%). The impact of heat treatment is investigated in detail. X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscope results demonstrate that orthorhombic NaZnPO4 nanocrystals are precipitated homogeneously among the glass matrix, and grow up with increasing heating temperature and time. Under 415 nm excitation, the Mn2+:4T1(G)→6A1(S) red emission achieves a maximum when the sample is heat treated at 560 °C for 4 h. Besides, the emission of Mn2+ doped glass ceramics red-shifts with increasing dopants, and intensifies continuously up to 3 mol% doping amount.