Microstructural and optical properties of SiO₂ glasses doped with ZnSe quantum dots and Nd³⁺ ions

SiO₂ glasses doped with ZnSe quantum dots and Nd³⁺ ions with compositions of (1% ZnSe–99% SiO₂), (2% ZnSe–98% SiO₂) and (2% ZnSe–97% SiO₂–1% Nd³⁺) were synthesized by sol-gel method and then annealed at 683 K and 873 K for one hour. X-Ray diffraction (XRD) technique was used to identify the crystalline phases of ZnSe quantum dots. It was observed that 0–1 mol% of Nd₂O₃ addition produced single phase structure in XRD. The average crystallite sizes of ZnSe quantum dots were determined using Scherrer's equation and the FW15/45 M method. The size of the nanoparticles was found to be in the range of 4–10 nm. It was shown that the presence of Nd³⁺ ions led to smaller quantum dot sizes and a narrow size distribution.