Impact of Bi2O3 on optical properties and radiation attenuation characteristics of Bi2O3-Li2O-P2O5 glasses

Abstract

The physical, optical, and gamma ray shielding behavior of the four Bi2O3-Li2O-P2O5 glasses with varying Li2O and Bi2O3 compositions have been explored. The glass density increases from 2.44 to 3.85 g cm-3 with bismuth oxide content. The molar volume follows the same trend as density and the overall molar volume of these glasses increases, which in turn directly affects the oxygen packing density (OPD). Optical band gap energies decrease after lithium oxide is replaced with bismuth oxide. The values of M lie between 0.3485 and 0.3209 indicates that glasses under investigation are non-metallic. Radiation shielding evaluation using EpiXS software and Phy-X/PSD program shows comparable mass attenuation coefficients (MACs) but with relatively higher percent differences at energies near the K-edge energies of O (0.538 keV) and Bi (90.5 keV). The MACs of the glasses rise when Li2O oxide is replaced with Bi2O3 oxide. The half-value layer (HVL) results showed the difference in the radiation shielding capabilities of the four glasses is more apparent at high energies. An increase in MAC and a decrease in HVL imply that adding Bi2O3 to the glass improves its radiation attenuation properties.