Crystallization of nanostructured ZrO2 phase in borosilicate glass: Impact of Al2O3 on tetragonal-to-monoclinic phase transformation

Abstract Recently, we have developed the borosilicate glass, in which ZrO2 phase is singly crystallizable, and has found an emissive monoclinic ZrO2 dendrites in the resulting GCs. In order to promote the formation of monoclinic phase, we have examined the effect of substitution of alumina Al2O3 for ZrO2 in the precursor glass composition, i.e., 15Na2O–(15 − x)ZrO2–xAl2O3–30B2O3–40SiO2. It was found that the substitution of small amount of Al2O3 (x = 1) gave a positive effect, i.e., increase in the amount of monoclinic phase and decrease in the crystal size. Furthermore, the substitution improved the internal quantum-yield. On the other hand, the further substitution (x ≥ 2) provided the decrease in amount of the monoclinic phase.