Origin of ultraviolet photoluminescence in zeolite-derived glass

Abstract A series of silica glass compacts were prepared by rapid consolidation of zeolite powder using SPS under different conditions, and their photoluminescent properties were systematically studied in this work. XRD and high-energy synchrotron XRD results show that although the content of zeolite in glass decreases fast with increasing sintering temperature, the residual zeolite always can be found in obtained glass until 1300 °C. Moreover, despite the observed UV PL emission at ~ 370 nm for all prepared glass samples, the PL intensity decreases continuously with increasing consolidating temperature. Based on the FTIR results and HRTEM observation, it is deduced that the zeolite/glass interface which contains lots of defects plays a critical role for UV PL in the zeolite derived glass.