Use of Eggshell Waste as a source of CaO in Sm3+-Doped Na2O-B2O3-CaO-SiO2 Glass Preparation

In this research, calcium carbonate from eggshell waste was used to prepare the soda-lime borosilicate glass samples (Na2O-B2O3-CaO-SiO2) doped with samarium ions (Sm3+) at different Sm2O3 concentrations (0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4 and 0.5 mol%). A conventional melt-quenching method at 1,100°C for 3 h was applied in this work to produce the glass samples. The samples were then characterized by XRD, DTA, FT-IR, UV-Vis spectrophotometer and PL techniques. The results showed that the obtained glasses had amorphous structure, and the glass density tended to increase with the addition of Sm2O3. The FTIR spectra of the main glass structure revealed that it was composed of trigonal BO3 and tetrahedral BO4 borate groups mixing with SiO4 tetrahedra and non-bridging oxygen. The addition of samarium ions to the glass resulted in a strong orange emission at 562 nm (4G5/2→6H5/2), 600 nm (4G5/2→6H7/2), 646 nm (4G5/2→6H9/2) and 708 nm (4G5/2→6H11/2) under excitation at 403 nm. The results confirmed that 0.3 mol% Sm2O3-doped glass exhibited the highest emission intensity, which suggested that eggshells have a high potential to be used as an alternative CaCO3-raw material in the production of an efficient luminescent and environmentally-friendly optical electronics material