Preparation and characterization of zinc–borate glasses doped with Ag2O

•Glass samples have been prepared by using a conventional melt-quenching technique.•Confirmed the glassy nature of the samples by X-ray diffraction.•Density and Molar volume are studied by using the Archimedes principle.•Optical absorption spectra were studied by using UV– visible spectrophotometer.•Various functional group is studied using FTIR spectrometer.•Direct and indirect energy band gap have been calculated and they are in the range of 2.63ev and 3.13ev respectively.•Refractive index have calculated using Lorentz-Lorentz relation.