Investigation on crystallization and influence of Nd3+ doping of transparent oxyfluoride glass-ceramics

Nd3+ doped transparent oxyfluoride glass-ceramics containing LaF3 nano-crystals were prepared by melt quenching. Differential thermal analysis (DTA) showed that the addition of NdF3 decreased the LaF3 crystallization temperature. The kinetics studies indicated that the crystallization was a diffusion-controlled growth process with zero nucleation rate for the whole process. LaF3 crystallization activation energy and crystalline size as the function of NdF3 doping lever exhibit the closely related evolutions. For the crystallized samples, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) and absorption spectroscopy experiments evidenced the homogeneous distribution of spherical LaF3 nano-crystals (10–20 nm) with the incorporation of Nd3+ ions in the lattice among the oxide glassy matrix, which is important for obtaining desirable luminescent performance of the material.