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195 Impact of manganese ions on spectroscopic and electrical properties of lithium lead borophosphate glasses 6.1 Introduction. B2O3 is one of the most significant glass formers incorporated in various kinds of glass systems as a flux material in order to achieve the substances with specific physical and chemical properties suitable for high technological applications. Borate glasses doped with transition metal ions find potential applications in different domains of modern science and technology [1–3]. When P2O5 is mixed in borate glass system, it reduces the melting and softening temperatures and shifts the optical edge towards lower wavelength. The phosphate ions may influence the physical properties of glasses very strongly because these ions participate in the glass network with different structural groups, viz. PO4, PO43–, P–O– and P=O, etc. In recent years much research is going on, in improving the physical properties and chemical durability of various glass networks containing P2O5. Due to these reasons, much attention is given to research on borophosphate glasses doped with different transition metal ions, because of their remarkable technological importance in the development of tunable solid state lasers, luminescence materials, solar energy converters, fiber optic communication devices, cathode materials in batteries and in number of electronic appliances [4–9]. The conductivity of borophosphate glasses can be enhanced by incorporating sufficient amount of Li2O in the glass network. Further, when these glasses are alloyed with multivalent transition metal ions like manganese, the mixed electronic and ionic conduction is expected depending on the glass composition. 196 Electronic conduction in this type of materials is predicted due to polaron hopping between different valence states of manganese ions [10], whereas the ionic conduction is due to the diffusion of lithium ions [11–13]. PbO is a conditional glass former which induces lower rates of crystallization and raises the resistance against moisture by creating the stable glass due to its dual role; one as modifier with PbO6 structural units, when Pb–O bond is ionic and the other as glass former with PbO4 structural units when Pb–O bond is covalent [14,15]. It is well known that manganese ions very strongly influence the electrical, optical and magnetic properties of the glasses. A large number of fascinating studies are available on the environment of manganese ions in various inorganic glass networks and their tremendous industrial and scientific applications [3]. It is also quite likely for manganese ions to have link with borate groups; strengthen its structure and may enhance the chemical resistance of the glass. These ions exist in different valence states in different glass matrices. For example, Mn3+ ions exists in borate glasses with octahedral coordinations whereas Mn2+ ions with both octahedral and tetrahedral coordinations in silicate and germinate glasses. Further, among different manganese ions Mn2+ and Mn3+ are well known paramagnetic ions. Interestingly Mn2+ and Mn4+ ions are noticed as luminescence activators [16]. The content of manganese in different forms in different valence states existing in the glass depends on the quantitative properties of modifiers and glass formers, size of the ions in the glass structure, their field strength, mobility of the modifier cation etc [5,7,14]. 197 The Mn2+ ion has the electronic configuration of 3d5, which leads to a half filled d shell. Most of the Mn2+ ions occupy the octahedral sites and have a high spin arrangement with five unpaired electrons [17]. The d5 electronic configuration has a 6 S5/2 ground state in the free atom and possesses zero orbital angular momentum and hence an electron spin resonance (EPR) signal is anticipated with ‘g’ value very close to the free electron value of 2.00232. The Mn2+ ions are widely used as acceptable structural probes in the glasses because their EPR spectrum can be easily identified at ambient temperature. Due to these extraordinary characteristics of the valency of manganese ions they are expected to influence the physical properties particularly the optical properties of Li2O-PbO-B2O3-P2O5 glass network and have strong bearing on dielectric properties of the glasses. Literature survey on borophosphate glasses clearly shows that most of the investigations on these glasses are limited to structural analysis by means of DSC, ion transport and spectroscopic studies etc. Especially, no considerable researches on dielectric properties (dielectric constant ε′, loss tanδ, a.c. conductivity ζac and dielectric breakdown strength) of manganese ions doped lithium lead borophosphate glasses are available. These studies are very much crucial in estimating the conductivity and topology of the glass network. The main aim of the present investigation is to make a comprehensive study on the influence of manganese ions on the structural aspects of lithium lead borophosphate glasses from a systematic study 198 on dielectric properties and spectroscopic studies such as optical absorption, FTIR and EPR spectra. Seven glasses in the particular glass system 20Li2O-20PbO-45B2O3-(15-x) P2O5: xMnO (x ranging from 0 to 3 mol %) are synthesized. The glass samples are labeled as follows: M0: 20Li2O–20PbO–45B2O3–15.0P2O5 M1: 20Li2O–20PbO–45B2O3–14.8P2O5: 0.2MnO M2: 20Li2O–20PbO–45B2O3–14.6P2O5: 0.4MnO M3: 20Li2O–20PbO–45B2O3–14.4P2O5: 0.6MnO M4: 20Li2O–20PbO–45B2O3–14.0P2O5: 1.0MnO M5: 20Li2O–20PbO–45B2O3–13.0P2O5: 2.0MnO M6: 20Li2O–20PbO–45B2O3–12.0.0P2O5: 3.0MnO (all in mol%) The methods of fabrication of the samples and the techniques adopted for recording X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern, optical absorption, FTIR, EPR and for measuring dielectric properties are same as that reported in the earlier chapters. 6.2 Brief review of the previous work on MnO doped glasses Chakradhar et al. [18] have recently delineated the micro structure, mechanical, EPR and optical properties of lithium disilicate glasses and glassceramics combined with Mn2+ ions developed by melt quenching and controlled crystallization. Terczynska-Madej et al. [19] have investigated the valence state and coordination of transition metal ions in alkali-borate glasses. The optical absorption spectra of these glasses in UV-VIS-NIR range were recorded. Kiran et al. [20] have 199 analyzed the spectral studies on Mn2+ ions added in sodium-lead borophosphate glasses and the EPR spectra demonstrate resonance signal with effective g value at geff ~2.02 with six line hyperfine structure. Shiv Prakash Singh et al. [21] have explored the EPR, optical absorption and photoluminescence properties of MnO doped 23B2O3-5ZnO-72 Bi2O3 glasses. The mixed alkali borophosphate xLi2O-(30-x)K2O35B2O3-34.5P2O5 (5≤x≤25) glasses mixed with 0.5 mol% of manganese ions have been investigated using EPR and photoluminescence processes by Kesavulu et al. [22]. The EPR spectra at different temperatures lying in the range 123 to 295 K have also been studied. Krishna Mohan et al. [23] probed the PbO-Nb2O5-P2O5 glasses containing different concentrations of MnO ranging from 0 to 2.5 mol% were prepared. A number of studies viz., differential thermal analysis, infrared, optical absorption, luminescence, Raman and ESR spectra, magnetic susceptibility and dielectric properties (constant ε', loss tanδ, ac conductivity ζac over a range of frequency and temperature) of these glasses have been carried out. Sreekanth Chakradhar et al. [24] examined the EPR and optical studies of Mn2+ ions in Li2ONa2O-B2O3 glasses an evidence of mixed alkali effect and the theoretical values of optical basicity have also been evaluated. Srinivasa Reddy et al. [25] have interpreted the spectroscopic and magnetic studies of manganese ions in ZnO-Sb2O3-B2O3 glass system and a number of studies, viz., optical absorption, infrared and ESR spectra and magnetic susceptibility were carried out as a function of manganese ion concentration. The analysis of the results indicates that manganese ions mostly subsist in Mn2+ state in these glasses when the concentration of MnO ≤ 0.6 mol% and above this 200 concentration, these ions seem to exist in Mn3+ state in the glass network. Thulasiramudu and Buddhudu have reported [26] the development and optical characterization of heavy metal oxide (HMO)-based transparent glasses in the chemical composition of 15PbO-40B2O3-(45-x)ZnO-xTM2+ (Mn2+) (where x=0.2, 0.5 mol%). Sreekanth Chakradhar et al. [7] have inspected the electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) and optical absorption spectra of manganese ions in different alkali lead tetraborate glasses. The paramagnetic susceptibilities have been calculated using EPR data for manganese ions in these glasses at different temperatures. Venkat Reddy et al. [5] have studied the alkali fluoroborate glass systems containing manganese ions. They thoroughly investigated the samples in order to obtain information about the structural role of manganese in the R2O-RF-B2O3: MnO (with R = Li and Na) glass network. They concluded that the intensity of optical absorption bands and the ESR signal due to Mn2+ ions decrease with increasing MnO concentration indicating the conversion of Mn2+ ions into Mn3+ ions in the glass network. Sreekanth Chakradhar and his group [27] have investigated the mixed alkali borate xNa2O-(30x)K2O-70B2O3 (5≤x≤25) glasses doped with 1mol% of manganese ions using EPR and optical absorption techniques as a function of alkali content to look for ‘mixed alkali effect’ (MAE) on the spectral properties of the glasses. Venkateswara Rao et al. [28] have investigated thermoluminescece (TL) characteristics of X-ray irradiated calcium fluoro borate glasses mixed with three different alkali oxide modifiers viz., Li2O, Na2O and K2O have been studied. The results were analyzed the probable mechanism responsible for quenching of TL emission by manganese ions in these 201 glasses has also been supported by the aid of optical absorption, IR spectra and differential scanning calorimetric studies. Krishna et al. [29] have studied the influence of Mn2+ ions in alkali barium borophosphate glasses by EPR and optical absorption techniques. 6.3 Characterization 6.3.1 X- Ray diffraction The X–ray diffraction pattern of M0, M1 and M6 glasses are depicted in Fig. 6.1. The absence of sharp Bragg peaks in the pattern in reveals the amorphous nature of the glasses. However, a small hump in the diffraction pattern specifies the presence of short range order in the present glasses. 6.3.2 Physical parameters The prepared glasses are free from visible in homogeneities such as bubbles, cracks or inclusions. Using the measured values of density ρ and the average molecular weight M of the samples, various physical parameters such as manganese ion concentration Ni, mean manganese ion separation Ri, polaron radius Rp and molar volume Vm are calculated and presented in Table 6.1 along with refractive index ‘n’ of the samples. The measured density of M0 glass is 3.5642 g/cm3 and noticed to increase gradually with the increase in concentration of MnO. A similar trend in refractive index and a reverse trend in molar volume are observed; such changes are due to variations in the structural compactness/softening i.e. the change in geometrical configurations, co-ordination number and cross-link density, etc. in the glass sample with increase in the concentration of MnO [14]. 202 Intensity (arb.units) M6 M1 Mo 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 2 Fig. 6.1. X–ray diffraction pattern of Li2O–PbO–B2O3–P2O5: MnO glasses. 6.4 Results 6.4.1 Optical absorption One of the important tools for structural characterization of glass materials is UV–visible spectroscopy. Optical absorption spectra of Li2O–PbO–B2O3–P2O5: MnO glasses are recorded in the wavelength region 200–1000 nm but for the sake of clarity, the absorption peaks of studied glasses are depicted in Fig. 6.2 in the wavelength range 250–800 nm. 203 Table 6.1 The density ρ, average molecular weight M, molar volume V m, manganese ion concentration Ni, mean manganese ion separation Ri, polaron radius Rp and refractive index n of Li2O–PbO–B2O3–P2O5: MnO glasses. Sample M0 M1 M2 M3 M4 M5 M6 M Vm Ni x1021 Ri 3 3 3 (g/cm ) ( g/mol) (cm /mol) (ions/cm ) ( Å ) ±0.01 ±0.01 ±0.01 ±0.0001 ±0.01 3.5642 3.5861 3.6083 3.6132 3.6253 3.6496 3.6525 103.23 103.09 102.95 102.81 102.52 101.81 101.10 28.96 28.75 28.53 28.45 28.28 27.90 27.68 – 4.19 8.44 12.70 21.30 43.18 65.28 – 6.20 4.91 4.29 3.61 2.85 2.48 Rp (Å) ±0.01 n ±0.001 – 2.50 1.98 1.73 1.45 1.15 1.00 1.682 1.695 1.702 1.715 1.724 1.738 1.742 The spectrum of MnO free glass (M0) does not exhibit any absorption peak. In the spectra of the samples containing lower concentrations (viz., 0.2, 0.4 and 0.6 mol %) of MnO, no detectable bands are observed in the spectral region 370–600 nm. In the spectrum of glass doped with 1.0 mol% of MnO a broad absorption band in the region 450–550 nm with a meta center at about 480 nm and a weak band at around 410 nm could clearly be visualized. The broad band observed at about 480 nm exhibited spectrally red shift with increasing intensity with raise in the concentration of MnO from 1.0 to 3.0 mol%, whereas the intensity of the band observed at about 410 nm exhibited decreasing trend in this concentration range of MnO. The absorption edge observed at 299 nm for M0 glass is red shift with increase in the concentration of MnO (Table 6.2). Optical density (arb.units) 204 M0 M1 M2 489 M6 M3 415 M5 M4 300 400 500 600 Wavelength ( ) nm 700 800 Fig. 6.2 Optical absorption spectra of MnO doped Li2O–PbO–B2O3–P2O5 glasses at room temperature. Optical band gap (Eo) of these glasses were evaluated by drawing Tauc plots between (αhυ)1/2 and hυ through extrapolating the linear part of such plots to (αhυ)1/2 = 0 as shown in Fig. 6.3. It is observed that optical band gap (E o) decreases gradually from 4.33 eV to a value of 3.74 eV with increasing MnO content in the glass matrix from 0 to 3.0 mol%. Urbach energy (ΔE) which determines the defect states is obtained from absorption coefficient α(υ) values in Urbach’s exponential tail region lying between 102 and 104 cm–1 is given by Eq. (6.1) α(υ) = Cexp(hυ/ΔE), (6.1) 205 where C is a constant and ΔE is the Urbach’s energy interpreted as the energy gap between localized tail states in the forbidden region. ΔE values are obtained by taking the reciprocals of the slopes of the linear portion of the ln α(υ) versus hυ plots as shown in Fig. 6.4. Calculated ΔE values are noted in Table 6.2. ΔE value is minimum (0.25 eV) for M0 glass and maximum (0.50 eV) for M6 glass. Inset of the Fig. 6.4 shows the variation of optical band gap and Urbach energy with concentration of dopant. Theoretical optical basicity values of all samples are calculated using Eq. (6.2) [30] and presented in Table 6.2. n th i 1 Zi ri Z0 i (6.2) where ‘n’ is the number of cations present, Zi is the oxidation number of ith cation, ri is the ratio of the number of ith cation to the number of oxides present, Z0 is oxidation number of cation and γi is the basicity, moderating parameter of the ith cation. γi values are calculated using Eq. 6.3. γi = 1.36(xi–0.26) (6.3) where ‘xi’ is Pauling electro negativity of cation. The value of optical basicity ( th) for the glass M0 is evaluated to be 0.4475; this value is found to increase with increase in concentration of MnO and reached a maximum value (0.4543) for the glass doped with 3.0 mol%. 206 M5 M0 M4 ( h ) (cm eV) 1/2 M6 1/2 -1 M1 M2 M3 3.2 3.6 4.0 Photon energy (h ) eV 4.4 Fig. 6.3 Tauc plots of MnO doped Li2O–PbO–B2O3–P2O5 glasses. Table 6.2 Cut off wavelength ( λc ), absorption band positions, optical band gap ( Eo ), Urbach energy ( ΔE ) and theoretical optical basicity ( Λth ) of the Li2O–PbO– B2O3–P2O5: MnO glasses. Sample λc ( nm ) M0 M1 M2 M3 M4 M5 M6 299 310 315 324 342 356 375 Band position (nm) ±0.1 5 Eg → 5T2g – – – – 477 486 489 Bandposition (nm) ±0.1 6 A1g(S)→4T2g(G) Eo (eV ) ±0.01 ΔE (eV) ±0.01 Λth ±0.0001 – – – – 410 412 415 4.33 4.30 4.23 4.15 4.07 3.82 3.74 0.25 0.29 0.32 0.36 0.47 0.48 0.50 0.4475 0.4479 0.4484 0.4489 0.4498 0.4520 0.4543 207 M5 M4 M3 ln( ) M6 M1 M0 M2 0.50 4.2 0.45 4.0 0.40 3.8 0.35 0.30 3.6 3.4 0.25 0 1 2 Urbach energy ( E) eV Optical band gap (E g) eV 4.4 3 Concentration (x) mol% 3.2 3.4 3.6 3.8 4.0 4.2 4.4 4.6 Photon energy (h ) eV Fig. 6.4 ln(α) versus photon energy (hν) of MnO doped Li2O–PbO–B2O3–P2O5 glasses. Inset shows the variation of optical band gap and Urbach energy with concentration of MnO. 6.4.2 Electron paramagnetic resonance Fig. 6.5 shows the EPR spectra of Li2O–PbO–B2O3–P2O5 glasses doped with different concentrations of MnO recorded at room temperature; the spectra exhibited three resonance signals centered at g ≈ 1.9 (in the literature such signal is observed at g ≈ 2.0 with sextet of hyperfine lines where as in the present study we found a decrement in g by a value 0.1 [31]), g ≈ 2.6 and g ≈ 4.05. Among these, the signal at g ≈ 1.9, displayed a predominant broad resonance, which consists of a sextet of 208 hyperfine lines. The sextet of hyperfine lines slowly disappeared at higher concentration of MnO. With the increase of MnO concentration, the intensity of resonance signals at g ≈ 1.9 is observed to increase, whereas that of the signals at g ≈ 2.6 and g ≈ 4.05 is observed to decrease. 6.4.3 FTIR The IR transmission spectra of glass system Li2O–PbO–B2O3–P2O5: MnO recorded in the wavenumber range 400–1250 cm–1 are shown in Fig. 6.6. The absorption bands and their corresponding assignments are presented in Table 6.3. Three main conventional broad bands due to the vibrations of borate groups are observed at about (i) 1193 cm–1 due to BO3 units which act as glass modifiers, (ii) 1029 cm–1 due to BO4 units which play the role of glass formers and (iii) at 694 cm–1 due to bending vibrations of B–O–B linkages [32]. A feeble band at 779 cm–1 and a shoulder at 1108 cm–1 and a moderate intensity band at about 926 cm-1 due to P–O–P and PO2– symmetric vibrations and P–O–P asymmetric vibrations, respectively, are also observed in these spectra [32]. With increase of MnO content, all the asymmetrical bands are observed to grow at the expense of symmetrical bands. A new band predicted due to Mn–O specific vibrations [33,34] is also located at about 549 cm–1 in the spectra of all the glasses. Interestingly another conventional band due to the vibrations of PbO4 structural units is also detected at about 451 cm–1 in the spectra of these samples [35]. 209 g=2.6 g=4.05 g=1.9 First derivative of Absorption (arb.units) M6 M5 M4 M3 M2 M1 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 Magnetic field (mT) Fig. 6.5 ESR spectra of MnO doped Li2O–PbO–B2O3–P2O5 glasses at room temperature. 6.4.4 Dielectric studies The dielectric constant (ε′) and loss (tanδ) at room temperature (30 oC) of Li2O–PbO–B2O3–P2O5 glass at 10 kHz are measured to be 6.12 and 0.011 respectively; these values are found to increase with decrease in frequency. The variation of ε′ with temperature for the glasses doped with different concentrations of MnO measured at 1 kHz is shown in Fig. 6.7 and inset shows the variation of dielectric constant with temperature at different frequencies of M5 glass system. The value of dielectric constant is found to increase considerably at higher temperatures, particularly at lower frequencies; the rate of increase of ε′ with temperature is found to be the highest for M6 sample and minimum for M0 glass. 210 M6 1030 M5 M4 % T (a.u.) M3 M2 549 884 1193 1108 1029 779 926 1200 M1 M0 694 800 451 400 -1 Wavenumber (cm ) Fig. 6.6 IR spectra of MnO doped Li2O–PbO–B2O3–P2O5 glasses at room temperature. Table 6.3 Assignment of vibrational modes in the FTIR spectra (with a probable resolution of ±0.5 cm–1) of the glasses Li2O–PbO–B2O3–P2O5: MnO glasses. M0 451 M1 444 M2 436 M3 425 M4 424 M5 418 M6 412 Assignment Vibrations due to PbO4 structural units – 549 547 549 541 554 551 Mn–O specific vibrations of different lengths in distorted octahedrons 694 695 695 701 692 695 694 B–O–B bending vibrations 779 784 790 784 779 777 – P–O–P symmetric vibrations – 884 886 884 – – – B–O bonds stretching vibrations in BO4 units from tri, tetra and penta borate groups 926 926 926 924 926 931 1016 P–O–P asymmetric vibrations 1029 1024 1037 1029 1034 1036 – Stretching vibrations of B–O bonds in BO4 units 1108 1102 1108 1101 1103 1104 – PO2– symmetrical stretching 1193 1194 1193 1194 1184 1181 – B–O stretch in BO3 units from pyro and ortho borate groups 211 1kHZ 40 10kHZ ' 40 100kHZ 20 1MHZ M6 500kHZ 200 ' 100 o 300 M5 M4 Temperature ( C) M3 M2 20 M1 M0 100 200 o Temperature ( C) 300 Fig. 6.7 Variation of dielectric constant ε' with temperature at 1 kHz frequency for different concentration of MnO in Li2O–PbO–B2O3–P2O5 glasses. Inset shows the variation of dielectric constant with temperature at different frequencies of M5 glass system. The temperature dependence of dielectric loss (tan ) of all the glasses gauged at a frequency of 10 kHz is presented in Fig. 6.8. The inset of the figure shows the variation of tanδ with temperature for M1 glass at different frequencies. These graphs have showed distinct maxima; with increase in frequency the peak maximum shifts towards higher temperature indicating the dielectric relaxation character of dielectric loss of these glass samples. The relaxation intensity is found to be the maximum for M6 glass and minimum for M0 glass. 212 1kHz M6 0.30 10kHz tan 0.8 M5 100kHz 500kHz 1MHz 0.15 M4 0.00 100 200 300 M3 o Temperatue ( C) M2 tan 0.4 M1 M0 0.0 100 200 o Temperature ( C) 300 Fig. 6.8 Variation of dielectric loss tanδ with temperature at 10 kHz frequency for different concentrations of MnO in Li2O–PbO–B2O3–P2O5 glasses. Inset shows the variation of tanδ with temperature at different frequencies of the M1 glass. The modification of dielectric parameters (ε and tanδ) at room temperature with different concentrations of manganese ions at 10 kHz is shown in Fig. 6.9. The effective activation energy for dipoles (Wd) of all the samples is evaluated using the equation given below and presented in Table 6.4. f = f0exp (–Wd/KT) (6.4) The activation energy is found to be the minimum (2.34 eV) for M6 glass and the maximum (3.15 eV) for the M0 glass matrix. 213 12 0.12 ' 0.08 tan 8 0.04 4 0 1 2 Concentration (mol%) 3 Fig. 6.9 Response of ε' and tanδ with different concentrations of MnO at 10 kHz at room temperature (30 oC). The a. c. conductivity (ζac) at different temperatures is calculated using the relation ζac = ωε εo tanδ (6.5) where εo is the dielectric constant of free space and ω is the frequency. The plots of variation of ζac with 1/T at different frequencies for M2 glass is represented in Fig. 6.10. From these plots it is concluded that the conductivity of the glasses escalates with the hike in frequency. Inset shows the alteration of conductivity for various concentrations MnO. It clearly indicates the progressive response of conductivity with increase in the concentration of manganese ions. The variation of ζac as a function of 1/T for pure and doped glasses at 500 kHz is displayed in Fig. 6.11. From these plots, 214 the activation energy for conduction, in the high temperature region over which an approximate linear dependence of log ζac with 1/T could be noticed, is computed and noted in Table 6.5. The activation energy is found to be high for M0 glass (0.25 eV) and low for M6 glass (0.14 eV). The inset (a) reflects the fact that the activation energy for conduction decreases with increase in the impurity concentration. Inset (b) represents the modification of ζac as a function of activation energy for conduction at 250 oC. An approximate linearity is found between ζac and activation energy for conduction. 1MHz 0.00010 ac ( -cm) -1 0.00015 500kHz 100kHz 0 1 2 3 Conc. (mol%) 10kHz ac ( -cm) -1 0.00010 0.00008 1kHz 0.00005 2.0 1/T (X10-3 K-1) 2.5 3.0 Fig. 6.10 The variation of ζac with 1/T at different frequencies for M2 glass. Inset demonstrates the magnification of conductivity for different concentrations of MnO. 215 The dielectric breakdown strength of all the prepared glasses were measured at room temperature and presented in Table 6.5. The sample with higher concentration of (a) 0.00010 A c tiv a tio n e n e rg y e V MnO possesses lower breakdown strength (13.62 kV/cm). 0 .2 4 0 .1 6 0 1 2 3 M6 (b) 0.00005 M5 0.000100 M4 ( -cm) -1 ac ( -cm) -1 C o n c . (m o l% ) ac M3 M2 M1 M0 0.000075 0.16 0.00000 0.24 Activation energy eV 2.0 2.5 -3 -1 1/T (X10 K ) 3.0 3.5 Fig. 6.11 Variation of a. c. conductivity ζac with 1/T for different glasses at frequency 500 kHz. Inset (a) shows the variation of activation energy with the concentration of MnO. Inset (b) shows the relation between activation energy and conductivity at 250 o C. Table 6.4 Synopsis of the data on dielectric loss of Li2O–PbO–B2O3–P2O5: MnO glasses. Glass (tanδ)maxavg M0 M1 M2 M3 M4 M5 M6 0.060 0.049 0.070 0.094 0.118 0.142 0.166 Temp. region of relaxation ( 0C ) 100–148 90–140 80–133 70–125 60–118 50–110 40–103 Activation energy for dipoles Wd ( eV ) 3.15 3.00 2.90 2.76 2.61 2.47 2.34 216 Table 6.5 Epitome of data on a.c. conductivity ζac for Li2O–PbO–B2O3–P2O5: MnO glasses. Glass ζac (x10–6) (Ω–cm)–1 M0 M1 M2 M3 M4 M5 M6 8.6 15.6 25.6 35.1 44.7 56.3 66.7 N(EF) in (x1021eV–1/cm3) Austin Butcher Pollak and and Mott Hyden 1.49 0.62 1.51 2.01 0.84 2.04 2.57 1.07 2.61 3.01 1.26 3.06 3.40 1.42 3.45 3.81 1.59 3.87 4.15 1.73 4.22 Activation energy for conduction (eV) 0.25 0.20 0.19 0.17 0.16 0.15 0.14 Breakdown strength kV/cm 15.42 14.98 14.64 14.48 14.15 13.88 13.62 6.5 Discussion 6.5.1 Physical parameters Generally density of a material is an excellent source for exploring the structural changes. Density is very much influenced by the dimensions of interstitial vacancies of the glass matrix [14]. The gain in density due to mixing of MnO is predicted due to the replacement of lighter cations P5+ by heavier manganese ions showing that the density of a system is highly sensitive to the atomic weight and ionic size. The minimum molar volume and maximum value of density of M6 sample reveal the compact nature of glass network. When the basic glass is mixed with MnO, the manganese ions occupy the interstices of the glass, in sequence with conversion of BO4 tetrahedral to BO3 triangular structural units. The ionic radii of B3+ in BO4 units (0.25 Å) are larger than B3+ in BO3 units (0.15 Å). 217 6.5.2 Optical absorption The optical absorption spectra of the present glasses are analyzed using Tanabe–Sugano diagrams of manganese ions. Generally manganese ions exist in Mn2+ (3d5) and Mn3+ (3d4) states in oxide glasses, though the higher states are possible [20]. In a cubic crystal field of low to moderate strength, the d5 electrons of Mn2+ ions are distributed in t2g and eg orbitals, with the ground state configuration (t2g)3 and (eg)2. According to Hund’s rule, this type of configuration gives rise to the electronic states, 6 A1g, 4A1g, 4Eg, 4T1g, 4T2g, 4A2g and to a number of doublet states of which 6A1g lies at the deepest. The Mn2+ ion is rarely found in regular octahedral sites with spherically non–degenerate 6A1g state. All the transitions of Mn2+ ions are spin forbidden and low intensity absorption bands are observed [30,36]. The feeble band observed around 410 nm is assigned to spin forbidden 6A1g(S) → 4T2g(G) transitions of Mn2+ ions in tetrahedral symmetry (Td). In the spectral region 450–550 nm two bands due to spin allowed 5Eg → 5T2g transition of Mn3+ ions and 6A1g(S) → 4T1g(G) transition of Mn2+ ions are predicted; both are octahedral bands [37-40]. With an increase in the concentration of MnO, the intensity of octahedral band increases at the expense of the tetrahedral band of Mn2+ ions at 410 nm. This observation indicates that an increasing proportion of octahedral manganese ions in the glass network with increase in the concentration of MnO The electronic structure in amorphous materials strongly depends upon the optical absorption near the edge. In the present analysis, the red shift of the cutoff wavelength and the decrease of optical band gap energy E o with doping of MnO are 218 due to formation of octahedral Mn2+ and Mn3+ ions which in turn causes the increase in non–bridging oxygen (NBO) atoms and decrease of optical band gap along with increase in Urbach energies. As modifiers these ions break B–O–B and P–O–P linkages and increase the degree of disorder in the glass network and lead to decrease of optical band gap (Eo) as observed. The decrease in optical band gap with increasing MnO content can also be explained in terms of the structural changes that are happening in the glasses. The value of E o decreases as the concentration of MnO increases from 0 to 3 mol % in the glass system. The addition of MnO as a network modifier brings about the formation of NBOs simply bounded by O2– ions. In metal oxides, the valence band maximum (VBM) chiefly consists of O(2p) orbital and the conduction band minimum (CBM) mainly consists of M(ns) orbital. The NBO ions contribute to the VBM. When a metal-oxygen bond is broken, the bond energy is liberated. The non bridging orbitals have huge amount of energies than bonding orbitals. Therefore, an increase in the concentration of NBO ions results in a shift of the VBM and a reduction of the band gap energy. The increase in Urbach energy (ΔE) with increase in the content of MnO is due to formation of defects like dangling bonds of NBOs and fluctuations in bond angle distortions [41]. The other factor contributing to edge broadening is static disorder which increases the density of localized states N(EF) of these defects. The observed minimum Urbach energy for M0 glass indicates the least width of the tails among investigated glasses. Increase in the values of basicity (Λth) with dopant concentration reveals an increase of localized donor pressure on cations of glass matrix. In other words, the 219 covalence of the glass network decreases. The network formers interact covalently with oxygen, while the modifiers are the elements that interact ionically. Moreover, Duffy et al. [42] concluded that the polarizability of oxygen ions is directly proportional to the optical basicity. The increase in polarizability of oxygen ions indicates the increase in the concentration of NBOs [43] and the same is also supported by the observed decrease in Eo and increase in ΔE values. 6.5.3 Electron paramagnetic resonance The EPR spectra of MnO doped glasses exhibit resonance signals due to Mn2+ (3d5) ions entering the glass network as paramagnetic agents. The six line hyperfine structure (hfs) of the resonance signal at g = 1.9 is due to the interaction of electron spin of manganese ions with its own nuclear spin I = 5/2 [44]. The ability to observe the hfs has two tangible benefits: (i) it generally allows unambiguous assignments of positions of complex resonance lines to manganese ions and (ii) the magnitude of hyperfine splitting provides a measure of the covalent bonding between Mn2+ ions and its surrounding ligands [22]. Their relative intensities vary with glass structure and composition. The ground state of octahedral Mn2+ ions is 6S5/2 [25] and the g value is expected to lie very near the free–ion value of 2.0023. However, sometimes the g value is more than 2.0. These large g values are expected due to the presence of some symmetric elements in the glass matrix. The theory of these large g values is generally expressed by the spin–Hamiltonian [45]. H = gβBS+D[Sz2 –{S(S+1)/3}]+E(Sx2–Sy2) (6.6) 220 where S = 5/2. Here D and E are the axial and rhombic structure parameters, λ = E/D lies within the limits 0<λ<1/3. Literature survey reveals that axial distortion of octahedral symmetry of d5 transition metal ions gives rise to three Kramer’s doublets ±5/2>, ±3/2> and ±1/2> even at zero field [36]. The spin degeneracy of Kramer’s doublet is lifted when Zeeman field is applied. As the crystal field splitting is normally much greater than the Zeeman field, the resonances observed are due to transitions within the Zeeman field split Kramer’s doublet. The resonances at g ≈ 4.05 and 2.6 can be attributed to the rhombic surroundings of the Mn2+ ions which act as glass formers [46]. The resonance at g ≈ 1.9 is due to the Mn2+ ions which behave like glass modifiers in an environment close to octahedral symmetry and is known to arise from the transition between the energy levels of the lower doublet ±1/2> [45,47]. The resonances at g ≈ 4.05 and g ≈ 2.6 are due to the transition between the energy levels of middle Kramer’s doublet ±3/2>. The highest intensity of the signal strength at g ≈ 1.9 than at g ≈ 4.05 and g ≈ 2.6 indicates that the concentration of Mn2+ ions with octahedral environment is more than that rhombic symmetry. The increase in the intensity of the signal at g ≈ 1.9 with the increase in the concentration of MnO, indicates the increase in the concentration of octahedral Mn2+ ions in the glass network. The observed decrement in g–value, with respect to 2.0023 indicates that the Mn2+ ions are in an ionic environment [48]. 6.5.4 FTIR The FTIR spectra of the system are analyzed in the wavenumber region 400– 1250 cm–1 to investigate the structural changes in the present glass network. It is 221 widely accepted that incorporation of Li2O into B2O3 leads to conversion of sp2 planar BO3 units into more stable sp3 tetrahedral BO4 units [5, 25]. Each BO4 unit is linked to two other similar units and the structure leads to the formation of long tetrahedron chains. However, addition of PbO into glass system changes the BO4 tetrahedral units into triangular BO3 units, by forming a PbOn polyhedron when it is surrounded by several BO4 tetrahedrons. This structure behaves like a defect in the glass network [49]. In the present analysis the band at around 1193 and 1029 cm–1 is assigned to the stretching vibrations of the B–O bond of triangular BO3 and tetrahedral BO4 units, respectively. The band at nearly 694 cm–1 is ascribed to B–O–B bending vibrations and a band at 549cm–1 is assigned to Mn–O specific vibrations of different lengths in distorted octahedrons. When MnO is added to Li2O–PbO–B2O3–P2O5 glass network, it will twist or distort the interconnected chains of BO4 units and increase the randomness of the glass system. It is clear that with increase in concentration of MnO the intensity of vibrational band corresponding to BO3 units is increased at the expense of band due to BO4 units. Similarly, a significant decrease in the intensity of the bands due to P–O–P and PO2– symmetric stretching vibrations at 779 and 1108 cm–1 is observed, whereas that of P–O–P asymmetric stretching band at 926 cm–1 increases with increase in concentration of MnO. The intensity of the band at 451 cm– 1 due to PbO4 structural units which act as glass formers decreases with increase in the concentration of MnO [49].These observations support the view point that with increase in the concentration of MnO there is an increasing proportion of octahedral manganese ions that act as modifiers in the glass network [50]. 222 6.5.5 Dielectric properties The dielectric nature of a glass is due to electronic, ionic, dipolar and space charge polarizations. The space charge polarization, which can be ignored at low temperatures but noticeable in low frequency region, depends on the purity and perfection of the glasses. The dipolar effects can be observed in the glasses even up to 106 Hz. It is found from the literature that the slight increase in the dielectric constant and loss at room temperature, particularly at low frequencies, may be attributed to the defects produced in the glass network. These defects create easy path ways for the migration of charges that would build up space charge polarization leading to increase in dielectric parameters such as ε′ and tanδ [51–54]. In the present investigation, we have observed increase in the values of dielectric parameters of Li2O–PbO–B2O3– P2O5: MnO glasses with increase in the concentration of MnO. The breakdown strength and activation energy for ac conduction are observed to decrease with increase in concentration of MnO. Manganese ions mostly exist in Mn2+ and Mn3+ states, occupy octahedral positions (as observed from optical absorption and EPR measurements) act as modifiers and create bonding defects by breaking B–O–B and P–O–P bonds [52] and facilitate for the increase of dielectric parameters. The observed dielectric relaxation effects are mainly due to divalent metal ions such as Pb2+ and Mn2+ ions in the glass network [30]. Among different constituents of these glasses, the divalent manganese ions together with a pair of cationic vacancies may form dipoles and such types of dipoles are responsible for the observed dielectric relaxation effects. The value of (tanδ) maxavg is observed to increase with an increase in 223 the concentration of MnO, whereas the value of activation energy for dipoles is observed to decrease. Such decrease in activation energy for dipoles, suggests an increase in the degree of freedom for dipoles to orient in the field direction in the glass network. In the present investigation of the glass systems, in the high temperature region the conduction phenomenon can be explained on the basis of defect model given by Ingram [55]. When a graph is drawn between ζac and activation energy for conduction a near linear relationship is noticed (inset b of Fig. 6.11). This approximate linearity between the conductivity and the activation energy reflects the fact that conductivity enhancement is directly proportional to the increasing mobility of the charge carriers in the high temperature region. Since the Pb2+ ions are much less mobile than the Li+ ions; Pb2+ ions can be regarded as virtually immobile within the time span of hopping process of Li+ ions [56]. Therefore, in the high temperature region, the Li+ ions contribute to the conduction in the present glasses. The gain in the conductivity with hike in the concentration of MnO is due to increasing modifying nature of manganese ions in the glass network. The lowest activation energy and highest conductivity observed for the M6 glass is due to the increasing mobility of free charge carriers in the more disordered glass network. The proportionate higher concentration of manganese ions taking network forming sites, prevent the mobility of Li+ ions and hence the conductivity is observed to decrease for lower concentration of MnO in the present glasses. 224 Among various types of conduction mechanisms in the glasses (such as band conduction, conduction in extended states, conduction in localized states near the band edge and conduction in localized states near the Fermi level), the conduction in localized states near Fermi level takes place when a.c. conductivity is nearly temperature independent and varies linearly with frequency. The conduction in present Li2O–PbO–B2O3–P2O5: MnO glasses in the low temperature region (up to approximately 350 K) can safely be ascribed to take place by the mechanism. The value of density of energy states N(E F) near Fermi level, for 500 kHz frequency and at 323 K is estimated on the basis of quantum mechanical tunneling (QMT) model [57, 58] as in the case of many other systems reported recently [59, 60]. The density of the defect energy states near the Fermi level is evaluated using the equation [61] ζ(ω) = ηe2KT{N(EF)2α–5 ω[Ln(νph/ ω)]}4 (6.7) Where η = π/3 [57] = 3.66 π 2/6 [62] = π 4/96 [63], with the usual meaning of the symbols reported in earlier papers [60,61] and presented in Table 6.5. The value of N(EF) is observed to increase with increasing concentration of manganese ions, indicating once again an increase in the disorder of the present glass network and is supported by the increase of Urbach energy (ΔE) values at higher concentrations of impurity in the glass network. The value of N(EF) is observed to be the highest for M6 glass. A gradual decline in the dielectric breakdown strength (from that of the undoped glass) of glasses has been observed when the concentration of MnO is increased. When an electric field is applied to the dielectric, the heat of dielectric loss 225 is liberated. If the applied electric field (E) is an alternating field, the specific dielectric loss, i.e. the loss per unit volume of the dielectric is given by the following equation [64]. ρ1(W/m3) = E2ωε′εotanδ (6.8) This equation indicates that higher the values of ε′ tanδ of the glass at a given frequency, higher are the values of ρ1. When a voltage is applied across a dielectric, heat is liberated, then the temperature of the dielectric increases and loss increases further more. The dielectric breakdown strength is, in fact, inversely proportional to the specific dielectric loss given by Eq. (6.8). The observations on dielectric breakdown strength of Li2O-PbO-B2O3-P2O5: MnO glasses, as mentioned earlier, indicate the rate of increase of ε′ tanδ with temperature is the highest for M6 glass. The heat liberated during the breakdown achieved by the application of voltage across the dielectric raises the ε′ tanδ value. The dielectric breakdown strength is inversely proportional to ε′ tanδ [64]. Thus the dielectric breakdown strength is lowest for the M6 glass when compared to the other glasses [Table 6.5]. Hence, the results on dielectric breakdown strength of Li2O-PbOB2O3-P2O5: MnO glasses revealed that there is a maximum internal disorder in the M6 glass. 6.6 Conclusions The following conclusions are drawn from the analysis of the results on spectroscopic studies and dielectric properties of Li2O–PbO–B2O3–P2O5: MnO glasses: 226 i. Glasses with composition 20Li2O–20PbO–45B2O3–(15–x)P2O5–xMnO, with 0 ≤ x ≤ 3 mol% were synthesized by melt quenching technique. ii. 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