Blue-green light emitting inherent luminescent glasses synthesized from agro-food wastes

Silica-phosphate glasses are synthesized using various agro-food wastes as resource materials instead of minerals. These glasses are synthesized using the melt-quench technique. These as prepared glasses are characterized by X-ray diffraction analysis, Energy dispersive spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, UV–Visible and photoluminescence techniques. The X-ray diffraction showed the amorphous nature of the prepared samples. The presence of elemental composition and inherent trace elements such as TiO₂, Fe₂O₃ determined using energy dispersive spectroscopy. The density and vicker micro hardness of these glasses have been increased by increasing of egg shell powder contents (CaO). The hardness of the present samples is higher than earlier reported similar type of glasses. The presences of Si–O–Ca and Al–O–Ca groups in the glass are identified. The presences of different silicate-phosphate units are also observed. The optical band gap of these glasses lies in the range 3.63–3.84 eV. The refractive index and photoluminescence of theses glasses have been also increased by increasing of CaO content in the glasses. TiO₄ is a “self activating” anion which helps to improve the luminescent quality of these glasses. The color purity is 66% of these glasses. The presences of inherent trace element oxides are responsible for good photoluminescence properties of the present glasses.