Persistent phosphor glass: a demonstration of oxide nanocrystal doping of glasses for new functional materials

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Modern technology largely depends on mastery of materials. Functional glasses and glass-ceramics are important for a range of technological applications by enabling fabrication of a range of devices in the sectors of energy, visual displays, health care, nuclear, defence, and space. In doped glasses there is a challenge to achieve the required functional centres due to limited control of dopant sites in high temperature melts. Sol-gels offer greater scope to control the local atomic environment but need to be thermally processed to high temperatures to eliminate residues and porosity. Glass ceramics are not usually transparent, and are not able to incorporate a range of functional nanocrystals due to the difficulty of controlling the crystallisation process. This project will create an exciting new generation of functional materials through oxide nanocrystal doping of glasses. This approach will be demonstrated by creating a new type of glass for optical applications. The final aim is to succeed in combining properties which are found separately in existing categories of glass ceramics, doped glasses, and sol-gels, such as bulk density, transparency, and a variety of functional nanocomponents.