The Influence of Silver Nanoparticles on Optical Properties of Samarium Doped Magnesium Tellurite Glasses

Control amount of noble metallic nanoparticles embedding in tellurite glass and its influence on optical properties is important for device perspectives. Silver (Ag) nanoparticles (NPs) are incorporated in Sm3+ doped tellurite glass having a composition of (89-x)TeO2-10MgO-1Sm2O3-xAgCl where (0.0≤x≤0.8) mol% by melt quenching method. The amorphous nature of the glass is determined by x-ray diffraction while the existence of Ag NPs is confirmed by the TEM image. The optical band gap and Urbach energy are determined using the UV-Vis spectroscopy. It is found that the direct optical band gap is around (3.16-3.41) eV, while indirect optical band gap is around (2.81-3.01) eV. The Urbach energy is shown around (0.18-0.24) eV. All the results will be discussed with respect to the Ag NPs content.