Microstructural and optical properties of SiO2 glasses doped with ZnSe quantum dots and Nd3+ ions

SiO2 glasses doped with ZnSe quantum dots and Nd3+ ions with compositions of (1% ZnSe-99% SiO2), (2% ZnSe-98% SiO2) and (2% ZnSe-97% SiO2-1% Nd3+) were synthesized by sol-gel method and then annealed at 683 K and 873 K for one hour. X-Ray diffraction (XRD) technique was used to identify the crystalline phases of ZnSe quantum dots. It was observed that 0-1 mol% of Nd2O3 addition produced single phase structure in XRD. The average crystallite sizes of ZnSe quantum dots were determined using Scherrer's equation and the FW15/45 M method. The size of the nanoparticles was found to be in the range of 4-10 nm. It was shown that the presence of Nd3+ ions led to smaller quantum dot sizes and a narrow size distribution.