Tunable pore size in diopside glass-ceramics with silver nanoparticles

Volume crystallization was achieved in diopside glasses by the introduction of silver into the glassy network. Subsequent thermal treatments lead to the formation of metallic silver nanoparticles within the glass. The latter particles trigger the formation of volume crystals. Furthermore, a porous microstructure due to the huge difference of the densities of crystalline and amorphous diopside was obtained. Two glass compositions with a combination of antimony and silver as well as antimony, tin, and silver were studied and very different pore sizes, homogeneously distributed over the sample volume, were obtained. The nucleation behavior was studied via differential scanning calorimetry. Microstructure analyses were performed via scanning and transmission electron microscopy. The porosity and the pore size distribution dependent on the composition and hence also dependent on the nucleation behavior were studied using three-dimensional X-ray microscopy.