Physical and absorption properties of titanium nanoparticles incorporated into zinc magnesium phosphate glass

We report the influences of Titania (TiO2) nanoparticles (NPs) on the physical and optical properties of melt quench synthesized zinc magnesium phosphate glasses. Five glass samples with composition (42 − x)P2O5-50ZnO-8MgO-xTiO2, where x = 0, 1, 2, 3, 4 mol% are prepared and characterized. XRD pattern verified the amorphous nature of all samples. TEM images manifested the growth of Ti NPs of average size ≈ 5.78 nm. TiO2 NP concentration dependent variation in the physical properties including glass density, molar volume, molar refractivity, electronic polarizability and ionic packing density are determined. The values of glass refractive indices, density and ionic packing density are increased with the increase of TiO2 NP contents. Conversely, the Urbach energy, direct and indirect optical band gap are found to decrease with the increase of TiO2 NP concentration. These glass compositions may be potential for various solid state devices including laser.