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

现代技术在很大程度上取决于对材料的掌握。功能玻璃和玻璃陶瓷对于一系列技术应用非常重要，可以制造能源、视觉显示器、医疗保健、核能、国防和空间领域的一系列设备。在掺杂玻璃中，由于高温熔体中掺杂剂位点的控制有限，因此实现所需的功能中心是一个挑战。溶胶-凝胶提供了更大的范围来控制局部原子环境，但需要在高温下进行热处理以消除残留物和孔隙。玻璃陶瓷通常不是透明的，并且由于难以控制结晶过程而不能并入一系列功能性纳米晶体。该项目将通过玻璃的氧化物掺杂来创造令人兴奋的新一代功能材料。这种方法将通过创造一种用于光学应用的新型玻璃来证明。最终的目标是成功地结合在现有类别的玻璃陶瓷，掺杂玻璃，溶胶-凝胶，如体积密度，透明度，和各种功能的纳米组分分别发现的属性。

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.