A study of formation and photoluminescence properties of ZnO quantum dot doped zinc-alumino-silicate glass ceramic

Transparent Al2O3–SiO2–ZnO–R2O glass ceramics were fabricated by melting method. The effects of the different kind of alkali ions on the formation of the transparent glass ceramic were studied. X-ray diffraction and high resolution transmission electron microscope were measured to study the microstructure of the samples. The results showed that, transparent glass ceramic including ZnO quantum dots was obtained after heat treatment from 700 °C to 800 °C for the sample containing K2O. While glasses containing Li2O and Na2O were opal after heat treatment. Photoluminescence properties of the K2O contained samples were studied. It was found that the photoluminescence peak shifted to longer wavelength when the heat treatment temperature and time increased, which can be ascribed to the increasing of ZnO quantum dots size.

Research highlights
► Effects of the alkali ions on the formation of the transparent glass ceramic.
► Photoluminescence properties of ZnO QD’s glass ceramics.
► Effects of the ZnO QD’s size on PL properties of the ZnO QD’s glass ceramics.