Crystallization of cerium containing iron borophosphate glasses/glass-ceramics and their spectral properties

•The main phases of the crystallized IBP glasses are Fe4(PO4)2O and Fe2(PO4)O.•CeO2 addition and CePO4 crystallite suppress the crystallization of the IBP glasses.•CeO2 addition makes the IR bands associated with [PO4] increase in intensity.•CeO2 addition makes the IR bands associated with [PO4] shift to high wave number.

The crystallization behaviors of CeO2 containing 36Fe2O3–10B2O3–54P2O5 glasses/glass-ceramics (IBP glasses/glass-ceramics) and the effect of CeO2 addition on the structure of the IBP glasses/glass-ceramics annealed at 850 °C for 10 h were investigated by XRD, SEM and FTIR. The results show that Fe4(PO4)2O and Fe2(PO4)O phases are detected in the IBP glasses/glass-ceramics annealed at 650 °C for 10 h, and traces of FePO4 crystal is also detected when the CePO4 crystallite pre-exists in the unannealed IBP glass-ceramics. When the glasses/glass-ceramics are heat-treated at 850 °C for 10 h, Fe4(PO4)2O, Fe2(PO4)O and a small amount of FePO4 phase are detected. Meanwhile, CePO4 phase also appears in the crystallized IBP glasses/glass-ceramics containing more than 6 mol% (including 6 mol%) CeO2. Moreover, the main structural units of the crystallized glasses/glass-ceramics are [PO4] and [BO4] tetrahedron. [CeO4] tetrahedron also exists in the structure of the crystallized IBP glasses/glass-ceramics containing CeO2. CeO2 addition and the pre-existing CePO4 crystallite improve the resistance of the IBP glasses/glass-ceramics to crystallization, which makes the infrared bands associated with the vibration of [PO4] group increase in intensity and shift to high wave number.