Thermo- and photoluminescent properties and gamma radiation shielding efficiency of NiO doped B2O3–Bi2O3 glass system

Abstract

Nickel-doped bismuth borate glass system was synthesized via a conventional melt-quenching technique. Various characterizations such as thermoluminescence (TL), UV-VIS, and photoluminescent (PL) spectroscopy were conducted on glasses to study their thermo- and photoluminescent properties. Co-60 was used as an irradiation source to activate the thermoluminescence in the glasses. The kinetic and trapping parameters of the glasses were studied and their radiation shielding efficiency was also studied through simulation with the use of a user-friendly software called Phy-X/PSD software. Shielding parameters such as Mass attenuation Coefficient (MAC), Linear attenuation coefficient (LAC), Half Value Layer (HVL), Tenth value layer (TVL) and others were calculated for the studied glasses. The highest radiation shielding efficiency was recorded by the sample with 2% NiO concentration. The values of the glass shielding parameters were also compared with those commercially available concrete such as ordinary, serpentine, barite and chromite concretes and the result indicated great potentials of the glasses for radiation shielding application considerations.