| Summary: | The erbium-vanadium co-doped borate glasses, embedded with silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs), were prepared to improve their optical properties for potential optical fiber and glass laser application. The borate glasses with composition (59.5–<i>x</i>) B<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub>–20Na<sub>2</sub>O–20CaO–<i>x</i>V<sub>2</sub>O<sub>5</sub>–Er<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub>–0.5AgCl (<i>x</i> = 0–2.5 mol%) were successfully prepared by conventional melt-quenching method. The structural properties of glass samples were investigated by XRD, TEM and by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy while optical properties were carried out by UV–Vis spectroscopy by measuring optical absorption and the emission properties were investigated by photoluminescence spectroscopy. The XRD patterns confirmed the amorphous nature of the prepared glass samples whilst the FTIR confirmed the presence of VO<sub>4</sub>, VO<sub>5</sub>, BO<sub>3</sub> and BO<sub>4</sub> vibrations. UV–Vis–NIR absorption spectra reveal eight bands which were located at 450, 490, 519, 540, 660, 780, 980, and 1550 nm corresponding to transition of <sup>4</sup>F<sub>5/2</sub>, <sup>4</sup>F<sub>7/2</sub>, <sup>2</sup>H<sub>11/2</sub>, <sup>4</sup>S<sub>3/2</sub>, <sup>4</sup>F<sub>9/2</sub>, <sup>4</sup>I<sub>9/2</sub>, <sup>4</sup>I<sub>11/2</sub>, and <sup>4</sup>I<sub>13/2</sub>, respectively. The optical band gap (E<sub>opt</sub>), Urbach energy and refractive index were observed to decrease, increase and increase, respectively, to the addition of vanadium. Under 800 nm excitation, three emission bands were observed at 516, 580 and 673 nm, which are represented by <sup>2</sup>H<sub>11/2</sub>–<sup>4</sup>I<sub>15/2</sub>, <sup>4</sup>S<sub>3/2</sub>–<sup>4</sup>I<sub>15/2</sub> and <sup>4</sup>F<sub>15/2</sub>–<sup>4</sup>I<sub>15/2</sub>, respectively. The excellent features of achieved results suggest that our findings may provide useful information toward the development of functional glasses.
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