Glass formation and physical properties of chalcogenide glasses in Ge–S–Pb system

• Glass formation of Ge–S–Pb system is determined.
• The effect of the introduction of Pb on the glass structure and physic-chemical properties are investigated.
• Some micro-crystal glasses formed in quenching procedure exhibit improved mechanical properties and excellent IR transmission.
•
• The effect of Pb addition on the structure-property relationship is investigated.
• Some crystallized glasses exhibit superior properties.

Chalcogenide glasses based on Ge–S–Pb system were prepared, and the compositional dependence of their physic-chemical properties and glass structure were investigated. Up to 23 mol% Pb can be dissolved in this glass system and the glass-formation region like a small isolated island was found. The effect of the introduction of Pb on the glass structure is discussed by employing Raman spectra. It is shown that the substitution of Pb for Ge decreases the number of [GeS4] and [S3Ge–GeS3] units, leading to the variation of properties, such as Tg, H′, and Hv. The knowledge of this structure–properties relationship of Ge–S–Pb glasses would be of significance to select or to design suitable host glass for optoelectronic applications.