Spectroscopic and Surface Wetting Properties of Samarium Doped Lead-Tellurite Glass Embedded with Titanium Nanoparticles: Self-Cleaning Glass

Abstract Two series of samarium doped lead-tellurite glass embedded with titanium nanoparticles (Ti NPs) of different compositions (60-x) TeO2 -30PbO-10ZnO-xSm2O3 (x = 0.5, 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5 mol%) and (58.5-x) TeO2-30PbO-10ZnO-1.5Sm2O3-xTiO2 (x = 0.3, 0.6, 0.9, 1.2, 1.5mol %) were prepared using conventional melt quenching technique. The existence of a broad hump XRD pattern verifies the amorphous nature of glasses. The homogeneous distribution and growth of spherical and non-spherical Ti NPs (average diameter ~11.11±0.13 nm) in the glassy matrix are evidenced from the TEM analyses. The HRTEM confirmed the presence of Ti NPs by measuring the lattice spacing of Ti NPs, which is found to be 0.211nm. The UV-Vis-NIR absorption spectra reveal nine bands corresponding to the transition from ground state 6H5/2 to excited states 4I13/2, 4I11/2, 6F11/2, 6F9/2, 6F7/2, 6F5/2, 6F3/2, 6H15/2, and 6F1/2, the most intense hypersensitive bands are F9/2, 6F7/2, 6F5/2 and 6F3/2. The down conversion corresponding to Sm3+ ions transitions under 404 nm excitation reveals four emission bands centered at 548nm, 583nm, 628nm, and 692 nm related to the transitions 4G5/2 → 6H5/2, 4G5/2 → 6H7/2, 4G5/2 → 6H9/2, and 4G5/2 → 6H11/2, respectively. The highest transition band relative intensity to the other transition bands is 4G5/2 →6H7/2, and the intensity of 4G5/2 →6H11/2 is the lowest. Additionally, the glass sample TPZST3 with 0.9 mol% of TiO2 NPs possesses the greatest WCA of 105.24o which means that the TPZST3 has a hydrophobic nature, this suggests that TPZST3 can be a good candidate for developing self-cleaning glasses applications.