Structure and Properties of Gallium-Rich Sodium Germano-Gallate Glasses

摘要： Glass compositions in the gallium-rich region of the ternary GaO3/2-GeO2-NaO1/2 vitreous system are studied as a function of the Na/Ga cationic ratio (ranging from 1.30 to 1.61) for a fixed GeO2 content. Glass structures are investigated by 71Ga MAS-NMR, infrared and Raman spectroscopies, and the thermal, optical and physical properties are characterized. Vibrational spectra are interpreted with the help of density functional theory (DFT) calculations. Gallium oxide generally enters the germania network in four-fold coordination, however for Na/Ga ratio below unity, gallium cations tend to charge balance with the formation of 5- or 6-fold coordination units. When the amount of sodium is greater than gallium, non-bridging oxygens (NBOs) are formed preferably on germanate tetrahedral units. These structural descriptions are used to understand the evolution of glass properties such as glass transition temperature, density and refractive index.