Study the influence of zinc oxide addition on cobalt doped alkaline earth borate glasses

•The glassy system xZnO–(79.9−x)B2O3–20BaO–0.1Co3O4 was prepared by a quenching method.•XRD patterns revealed that the amorphous nature of the present glasses matrix.•The results show that Zn2+ ions occupy both forming and modifying positions.•Optical parameters are reported as a function of ZnO content. The glasses of the composition 79.9B2O3–20BaO–0.1Co3O4 doped with different concentrations of ZnO (5, 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30mol%) were prepared using melt quenching technique. Various studies such as XRD, density, theoretical optical basicity, FT-IR and optical absorption have been carried out to study the role of ZnO on the physical and structural properties of the investigated system. Powder X-ray diffraction patterns confirmed the glassy nature of all the glassy samples. The density and molar volume of glassy samples showed opposite behavior to each other. An increment of the theoretical optical basicity with increasing ZnO content, which is due to an increase in the polarizability and a decrease in the single bond strength is observed. FT-IR analysis revealed that an increase in non-bridging oxygen’s (NBO’s) up to ZnO⩽15mol% and then a decrease at ZnO>15mol%. The results indicated that the Zn2+ ions are likely to occupy network modifier positions at a concentration of ZnO⩽15mol%. Above which these ions occupy network forming positions. From ultraviolet absorption edges calculations, the optical band gap energy and steepness parameter decrease whilst Urbach energy and refractive index increase by the addition of ZnO up to 15mol% above which then the behavior follows reversal trend. The values of the crystal field strength and the interelectronic repulsion Racah parameter calculated from the optical transitions energies of cobalt doped glassy samples. All prepared samples exhibit blue color, indicating that mostly Co ions are acted upon by tetrahedral ligand field.