Structural studies of xLi2O–(40 − x)Bi2O3–20CdO–40B2O3 glasses

• Present glasses were made up of [BO3], [BO4], [BiO3] and [BiO6] units.
• Raman and IR studies confirm that the formation of Cd (CdO4) is absent.
• The optical absorption studies revealed that the λc decreases increase in Li2O.
• In the present glass system as Li2O content increases Eopt also increases.
• Whereas αO2-αO2- (Eopt), Λ(Eopt) decreases and A(Eopt) increases with increase in Li2O.

Raman and infrared spectroscopies have been employed to investigate the xLi2O–(40 − x)Bi2O3–20CdO–40B2O3 glasses in order to obtain information about the competitive role of Bi2O3 and B2O3 in the formation of glass network. IR and Raman spectra show that these glasses are made up of [BO3], [BO4] and [BiO3] pyramidal and [BiO6] octahedral units. The formation of CdO4 in tetrahedral co-ordination was not observed. The optical absorption studies revealed that the cut-off wavelength decreases while optical band gap energy (Eopt) increases. The average electronic polarizability of the oxide ion (αO2-αO2-), optical basicity Λ(Eopt), and Yamashita–Kurosawa’s interaction parameter A(Eopt) were also examined.