A Closer Look at the Fabrication of Some Doped Metal ions in Borophosphate Glass system and their Structural, Elastic ,Optical, and Gamma-Ray Shielding Characteristics

Abstract

Borophosphate host glasses doped with zinc oxide (ZnO), titanium dioxide (TiO2), tellurium dioxide (TeO2), or cerium oxide (CeO2) were synthesized using rapid quenching techniques. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectra, along with deconvoluted FTIR spectra, were recorded in the 400–4000 cm-1 range. Using the models of Tauc and Urbach, the optical energy band gaps of these glasses were found to be 3.212, 3.289, 3.262, 3.087, and 2.475 eV respectively. Due to the incorporation of different metal ions into the prepared glasses, the density increased and the molar volume decreased, making the glass structure highly compact. Since the elastic moduli are directly related to the average cross-link density, the shear and longitudinal moduli show a forward proportionality with the average cross-link density. Detailed reporting focused on the mass attenuation coefficients (μm) and exposure build-up factors (EBF), crucial for evaluating the shielding properties of the material within the energy range of 0.015-15 MeV and penetration depth up to 40 mean free paths (mfp). Glass samples doped with tellurium dioxide exhibited the highest gamma attenuation due to their higher effective atomic number compared to the other samples. Compared to Portland concrete, the prepared glass composites showed higher mass attenuation coefficients across the entire investigated energy range. These results suggest that although Borophosphate glasses doped with cerium oxide have preferred mechanical properties compared with the other prepared glasses, Borophosphate glasses doped with tellurium dioxide could serve as transparent shielding material for medical applications due to their higher attenuation coefficient.