Physical properties and thermal stability of the GeTe_2-x(SeSb)_x (x = 0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6) chalcogenide glasses

Physical parameters are necessary to determine the suitability of the chalcogenide materials for specific applications. The present study reports the physical characteristics of the multicomponent GeTe_2-x(SeSb)_x (x = 0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6) chalcogenide glasses synthesised by the melt-quench technique. The differential scanning calorimetric (DSC) technique has been used at separate heating rates β = 5, 10, 15, 20 °C \(/\) $/$ min. XRD and SEM–EDX studies have been carried out for structural and morphological analyses. The average coordination number and constraints of the compound have been calculated which indicates that the composition forms a glassy system. Lone pair electrons present in the composition have been evaluated. R parameter has a value greater than 1, indicating that the composition has sufficient chalcogen, chalcogen–chalcogen and heteropolar bonds. The overall bond energy of the compound has been calculated using the chemical bonding approach to understand the fine-structure properties of the compound. Cohesive energy has been observed to increase with composition. Thermal stability, glass transition temperature and glass forming ability of the compound have been calculated using different relations like Saad and Poulin relation, Dieztal relation, Hurby parameter (H_r) and reduced glass transition temperature (T_rg) and studied theoretically to examine the thermal stability of the composition that shows that the prepared samples are suitable for data storage.