Effect of zirconium oxide nanoparticles on physical, structural and magnetic properties of Bi2O3-B2O3-MnO2 glasses

With a specific composition (in mol %) of 29Bi2O3-70B2O3-(1-x)MnO2- xZrO2 (where, x = 0, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75 and 1) five glass samples are synthesized by melt-quenching process. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) studies have shown that crystalline phase is bounded by harmonized glassy phase due to the addition of ZrO2 nanoparticles in the composition. The Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectra have revealed the important bands attributed to the major glass formers like [BO3], [BO4], [BiO3], [ZrO4] and [MnO4] units; and glass modifiers such as B–O–B linkages, O-B-O chains, [BiO6], [MnO6] and [ZrO6] units. Electron paramagnetic resonance spectra have shown the signals at g ≈ 4.3 and g ≈ 2.0 by presence of Mn2+ ions. The Magnetic susceptibility (χm) of the samples found to be decreased as the content of MnO2 is gradually replaced by ZrO2.