Zinc borate glasses: properties, structure and modelling of the composition-dependence of borate speciation.

The short-range order of binary zinc borate glasses, ZnO-(1-)BO, has been quantitatively described as a function of ZnO content over the entire glass forming range for the first time, to the best of our knowledge. Multiple spectroscopic techniques (B NMR, Raman, infrared) reveal detailed structural information regarding borate speciation and network connectivity, and a new model for quantifying the molar fractions of short-range order units is proposed. A consistent thermal history dependence for the fraction of tetrahedral boron () is well accounted for by the proposed model.