Prepared Glass System Research Articles

Tailoring glass radiation shielding properties through the Integration of ZnO and CaO

In this study, borate glasses with a general formula of (80-x-y)B2O3–10BaO–10Na2O-xZnO-yCaO, where x = 10, 15, 20 and 25 mol %, and y = 5, 10, 15 and 20 mol % were prepared. The radiation shielding capabilities of the prepared glass system were investigated at a wide energy range of 0.015 MeV–15 MeV. The data reveal that, the values of the mass attenuation coefficient (MAC) vaired between 20.043 and 32.435 cm2/g at 0.015 MeV. The MAC demonstrated that the increase of the ZnO and CaO content within the glasses leads to increase the MAC values, and improve the absorption ability of the glasses. The relation between the density of the glasses and their linear attenuation coefficients (LAC) were studied. A positive linear relationship between LAC and density has been fond. At 0.150 MeV, the LAC values are 0.804, 0.874, 0.945, and 1.020 cm−1 for the glass with 5, 10, 15 and 20 mol % of CaO in the order, respectively. We also evaluated the ratio of half value layer (HVL) for all prepared glass samples with lowest and highest density. The results revealed that the calculated ratio of HVL is always >1. This means that the Zn25Ca20 sample requires a smaller thickness to attenuate the same number of photons as betweenZn10Ca5. This is desirable in situations where space is a constraints well as costs as a smaller material can be used. This study uniquely highlights the combined impact of ZnO and CaO on enhancing the radiation shielding performance of borate glasses, offering a novel approach to developing more efficient materials.

Experimental Study on the Radiation Shielding Performance of B2O3-SiO2-TeO2-Bi2O3-ZnO-BaO Glass Systems Containing Europium (III) Oxide

The radiation shielding abilities of Europium Oxide doped Bismuth Tellurium Barium Zinc Borosilicate glasses were investigated in this study. Five glass samples, denoted as BiTeEu-0, BiTeEu-1, BiTeEu-2, BiTeEu-3, and BiTeEu-4, were assessed to determine their effectiveness in shielding against incident photon energies of 356, 662, 1173, and 1332 KeV. The glass composition was 12B2O3–16SiO2-xEu2O3-(40-x)TeO2−12Bi2O3−12ZnO-8BaO, where x ranged from 0 to 4 mol%. In order to assess the effectiveness of the prepared glass systems as radiation shields, several numerical parameters were experimentally measured. These parameters included the linear attenuation coefficient (LAC) and other relevant factors. In order to validate the experimental setup, the LAC values were determined theoretically using WinXCOM software. This provided an opportunity to compare the experimental results with the theoretical values, allowing for the accuracy of the measurements to be assessed. The theoretical and experimental LAC values were identical, indicating the reliability of the experimental setup. A declining trend was found for the value of mean free path (MFP) as - BiTeEu-0 (0 mol% Eu2O3) > BiTeEu-1 (1 mol% Eu2O3) > BiTeEu-2 (2 mol% Eu2O3) > BiTeEu-3 (3 mol% Eu2O3) > BiTeEu-4 (4 mol% Eu2O3) from energy 0.06 MeV to 1.332 MeV. Results showed that the incorporation of higher amounts of Eu2O3 into the current glass systems resulted in a reduction in the value of half value layer (HVL) and mean free path (MFP), but an increase in the radiation protection efficiency. The study found that among the researched glass samples, the sample BiTeEu-4 [12B2O3−16SiO2−4Eu2O3−36TeO2−12Bi2O3−12ZnO-8BaO] provided the best radiation protection efficiency from 0.06 MeV to 1.33 MeV energy range.

Thermally stable Sm3+ -doped alkali zinc alumino borosilicate (AZABS) glass for warm white light generation and w-LED applications.

Samarium ion (Sm3+ )-doped alkali zinc alumino borosilicate (AZABS) glass was synthesized via quick melt quench technique. Various spectroscopic studies like optical absorption, photoluminescence (PL) emission, PL excitation, temperature-dependent PL and PL decay kinetics were performed on the as prepared glass system. Under 402 nm excitation, three sharp bands at wavelengths 563, 599 and 645 nm corresponding to transitions 4 G5/2 → 6 H5/2 , 6 H7/2 and 6 H9/2 , respectively, can be seen in the PL emission spectra. The 0.25 mol% Sm3+ glass has the highest intensity for these emissions. The lanthanide interaction in the glass matrix is dipole-dipole in nature as was proven from Dexter's analysis. The direct bandgap of 0.25 mol% Sm3+ -doped AZABS glass was calculated to be 2.88 eV. The lifetimes of the as prepared glass range from 1.93 ms for the lowest concentration of Sm3+ to 0.75 ms for the highest. From temperature dependent PL studies, the activation energy for 0.25 mol% Sm3+ -doped AZABS glass was found to be 0.19 eV which shows high thermal stability of this glass. We propose to utilize these Sm3+ -doped AZABS glasses for white-light emitting diodes (w-LEDs) and solid-state lighting (SSL) applications.

Structure and gamma-ray attenuation capabilities for eco-friendly transparent glass system prepared from rice straw ash

The current study investigates the physical structural and radiation shielding capabilities of a newly developed glass system incorporating silica extracted from rice straw ash (RSA). The purity and chemical composition of the silica are determined using XRF. XRD confirms the amorphous character of the synthesized glass. Moreover, molar volume, optical parameters, and density will be investigated. Gamma (γ)-rays shielding parameters like half-value layer, mass attenuation coefficient, the effective atomic number, and the mean free path are experimentally measured across a broad range of gamma-ray energies (81 keV–1408 keV) emitted from 152Eu, 133Ba, 137Cs, and 60Co radioactive isotopes. The exposure buildup factor will be evaluated with the geometric progression fitting approximation. In addition, Phy-X/PSD software is used to calculate theoretically the former shielding parameters. A good agreement between theoretical and experimental values has been revealed. Finally, a comparison was made to investigate the potential use of our glass to replace the common shielding material like concrete (ordinary and hematite-serpenite), commercial glass (RS 253), and the newly developed Ag2O doped boro-tellurite glass. The newly prepared glass has higher MAC, Zeff values and lowered HVL and MFP values. These properties make our prepared glass system superior in terms of shielding from γ-rays.

Band gap determination by Tauc’s, ASF and DASF methods of alkaline earth modified lithium borate glasses co-doped with transition metal ions

In the current manuscript the inorganic glassy system with composition 15Li2O-25RO-59B2O3-0.7CuO-0.3Fe2O3 (R = Ca/Sr/Ba) have been synthesized through classical melt-quench method and investigated by XRD, and optical absorption techniques. The X-ray diffraction images of the synthesized glassy materials substantiated the inorganic glassy structure. The UV–Visible optical absorption spectra of the synthesized glassy materials were recorded with in the wavelength range 300 to 900 nm. The Tauc’s, ASF and DASF methods were employed to ascertain the optical and Urbach energies of the prepared glass system. The effect of alkaline earths on the optical absorption was discussed.

Complex Optical Investigation of Sodium Superoxide Loaded Phosphovanadate Glass System in Ultra-Violet and Visible Region

Sodium superoxide loaded phosphovanadate based glass systems were prepared from a mixture of vanadium pentoxide (V2O5), phosphorus pentoxide (P2O5) boric acid (H3BO3) and sodium superoxide (NaO2) using a melt-quenching method. Amorphous phase of as-prepared glass system confirmed using XRD technique. Surface morphology of glass system studied using scanning electron microscope. Ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy was employed to extract complex optical parameters like direct and indirect optical band gap, Urbach energy, refractive index, complex dielectric constant and optical conductivity. The absorption bands in the region 200 - 400 nm are recognized to the ligand-to-metal charge transfer. The region of 400 - 600 nm is ascribed to the pair excitation processes. The refractive index increases initially and then decreases for 15 and 20 mol % of NaO2 due non bridging oxygen (NBO) atoms. The 25 mol % of NaO2 sample shows maximum value of extinction coefficient and refractive index. The direct and indirect band gap energies vary in between 2.067 to 1.824 eV and 1.869 to 1.495 eV, respectively. With increase in concentration of NaO2, the effective band gap of NaO2 decreases because band edge shifted into forbidden gap due to increase in defect levels below the conduction. This primary report on sodium superoxide loaded phosphovanadate based glass systems opens wide avenue for battery and supercapacitor applications. Tailing in the bandgap was observed and found to obey Urbach rule. HIGHLIGHTS Sodium superoxide-phosphovanadate glass system prepared by melt-quenching method Complex optical properties of prepared glass system studied successfully Glass system have characteristics of trapping of light Also, glass system has ability to slow down light GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT

Silver nanoparticles improved infrared photoluminescence of Nd3+ doped sodium borate glasses

Method of melting and quenching was used to prepare the alkali borate–based glasses embedded with Nd3+ ions and silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs). In the as–prepared glass, silver NPs were formed by loading the thermal reducing agent such as antimony trioxide in the composition. The optical absorption and microscopic outcomes confirmed the growth of silver NPs in the prepared glass system. The prepared glass was annealed at 450 °C for 0, 5, 10, 15, and 25 hrs to tune the spectroscopic and photoluminescence features of Nd3+ ions loaded in the glass. The photoluminescence intensity and related features were enhanced continuously with heat treatment schedule. However, subsequently the features were reduced at longer schedule. The variation of these features was ascribed to the local field–generated silver NPs. The results revealed that the entitled glass could be utilized for photonic and optoelectronic applications when activated with Nd3+ ions and routed with Ag NPs.

Enhanced Er3+ photoluminescence in sodium borate glasses containing silver nanoparticles for photonic functionalities

Herein, the titled glass routed with silver nanoparticles (achieved using thermal–reducing agent) containing trivalent erbium ions was synthesized via the melt–quench process. The electronic microscopic and linear absorption outcomes of glasses confirmed the formation of Ag0 nanoparticles. The prepared glass specimen was annealed at 400, 450 and 500 °C, it was identified that the photoluminescence properties were highest at 450 °C. Therefore, we considered this 450 °C as optimized temperature, since further annealing at this temperature for different durations causes significant improvement in photoluminescence properties compared to the properties obtained at other temperatures. The annealing at 450 °C for was performed for 0, 5, 10, 15 and 25 h to understand the influence of annealing duration on the optical absorption, visible and infrared photoluminescence properties of the prepared glass system. The photoluminescence intensity and related parameters such as bandwidth, gain bandwidth and quantum efficiency and also lifetime values of excited state for infrared emission transition were improved monotonously with annealing duration. The augmentation in the investigated properties was ascribed to the local field–produced by silver nanoparticles and the energy transfer from silver nanoparticles to erbium ions. The outcomes instantiate that the titled glass embedded with silver nanoparticles containing erbium ions annealed for 15 h at 450 °C could be useful for optoelectronic and photonic applications.

Nickel and manganese on lithium borate glass cathode for energy storage materials

In this work, co-doped nickel and manganese ions in lithium-borate-based glass (xNiO-yMnO:0.8LBO) were successfully fabricated with different Ni and Mn ratios and studied their structure and function relationship, especially on electrochemical properties. All fabricated glasses were amorphous phase, observed by XRD and TEM techniques. Optical band gaps ranging from 3.336 to 3.539 eV were found in prepared glass system. The oxidation state of Ni2+ and the mixing of Mn2+/3+ were clearly observed using XPS technique and synchrotron-based XANES technique. Additionally, the Ni and Mn K-edge EXAFS analysis exhibited a co-existence of octahedral site structure (A-site) and tetrahedral site structure (B-site) in all glasses with a different proportional site. By electrochemical studies, the specific capacitances of these glass system significantly increased with increasing Ni contents in glass composition. Interestingly, the highest specific capacitance value of 81.57 F.g–1 was obtained for NM31 (0.15NiO-0.05MnO:0.8LBO) glass sample suggesting a new promising glass electrode in future Li-ion battery.

Optical properties of Sm3+ doped in CaO-Al2O3-Na2O-BaO-B2O3 glasses for under-sea optical device applications

23CaO-10Al2O3-10Na2O-6BaO-(51-X)B2O3-XSm2O3 where, X = 0.0 (S0), 0.1(S1), 0.3(S2), 0.5(S3), 1.0(S4) glasses was fabricated by melt-quench technique. The characterization for the glass was performed by the standard techniques of XRD, FTIR, optical absorption, and fluorescence spectra. Physical properties such as dielectric constant, rare earth ion (Sm3+) concentration, polaron radius, interionic distance, field strength, average boron-boron interaction, molar refractivity, molar polarizability, metallization criteria, molar cation polarizability, electronic oxide ion polarizability, optical basicity, theoretical optical basicity, interaction parameter was determined. FTIR spectra confirm the signature borate vibrations. Judd-Ofelt (JO) analysis was evaluated and JO parameters show Ω2 > Ω4 > Ω6 trend. Glasses with 0.1 and 0.3 mol% Sm2O3 had the greatest value of Ω2, due to ligand field asymmetry and rare earth oxygen (Sm-O) covalent bonds at rare-earth ion sites. Photoluminescence spectra reveal three emission peaks originating from 565, 602, and 649 nm corresponding to 4G5/2→6H5/2, 6H7/2, and 6H9/2 respectively. Radiative properties such as stimulated emission cross-sections (σ) and branching ratios (β) was calculated and show higher value for 0.3 mol% Sm2O3 sample which is compared with other glasses. At 0.3 mol% of Sm2O3 content, concentration quenching was observed and attributed to transfer of energy via cross-relaxation channels within Sm3+ ions. The observed radiative properties for the prepared glass system show that they are efficient for developing under-sea optical device applications in the reddish-orange spectral region. The chromaticity coordinates were evaluated for the glasses. The evaluated (x,y) coordinates are observed to be found in the orange-red region of the CIE 1931 chromaticity diagram. The CCT values were obtained from CIE (x,y) coordinates.

Preparation, radiation shielding and mechanical characterization of PbO–TeO2–MgO–Na2O–B2O3 glasses

Borate glasses composed of PbO–TeO2–MgO–Na2O–B2O3 were prepared by melt-quenching technique. The radiation shielding and mechanical properties of this glass system were thoroughly investigated. The density of the glasses increases from 3.283 to 3.923 g/cm3 as the PbO content increases from 20 to 35 mol%. The mechanical properties are evaluated using the Makishima and Mackenzie model. The density and chemical composition of the samples are found to affect the mechanical properties. Furthermore, produced glasses' radiation shielding properties were evaluated by calculating the basic attenuation factors such as the mass/linear attenuation coefficients, half/tenth value layers, radiation shielding efficiency and lead equivalent thickness. These parameters were calculated for photon energies in the range of 15 keV-15 MeV using Phy-X software. We discussed the impact of PbO and B2O3 on the attenuation parameters of these glasses, and we found that these oxides affected the attenuation ability of the samples, especially at low energies. The mass attenuation coefficient for the prepared glasses has high values at 88 keV. The results for the different parameters demonstrated that the glass containing 35 mol % PbO has the best photon attenuation ability among other glasses. While, the sample with highest B2O3 content possesses the highest half value layer. The radiation shielding parameters for prepared glass system were compared with other materials.

The Effect of ZnO, MgO, TiO2, and Na2O Modifiers on the Physical, Optical, and Radiation Shielding Properties of a TeTaNb Glass System.

Novel glass samples with the composition 75TeO2–5Ta2O5–15Nb2O5–5x (where x = ZnO, MgO, TiO2, or Na2O) in mole percent were prepared. The physical, optical, and gamma radiation shielding properties of the glass samples were studied over a wide energy spectrum ranging between 0.015 and 20 MeV. The glasses’ UV–vis spectra were utilized to evaluate the optical energy gap and refractive index. Glass samples had a refractive index ranging from 2.2005 to 2.0967. The results showed that the sample doped with zinc oxide (ZnO) recorded the highest density (ρglass), molar polarizability (αm), molar refraction (Rm), refractive index (n), and third-order nonlinear optical susceptibility (χ3) and the lowest optical energy gap (Eopt) among the samples under investigation. When comparing the current glass system with various standard glass shielding materials, the prepared glass system showed superior shielding performance at energies ranging between 40 and 85 keV. These findings indicate that the prepared glass systems can be used in diagnostic X-rays, especially in dental applications.

Synthesis, gamma and neutron attenuation capacities of boron-tellurite glass system utilizing Phy-X/PSD database

Phy-X/PSD was applied to evaluate the properties of gamma and neutron attenuation of TeO2–B2O3–RnO (R = Mg, K, and Zn) glass systems which is fabricated successfully by high temperature melting method. The abilities of gamma ray shielding were investigated by the relative parameters effective atomic number (Zeff), half-value layer (HVL), tenth value layer (TVL), mean free path (MFP), and fast neutrons (ΣR) which are crucial gamma shielding parameters. Meanwhile, the parameter of ΣR plays an essential role for evaluating the abilities of the neutron shielding. The study results revealed a phenomenon that the improving of TeO2 fraction from 11 mol% to 61 mol% decreases the parameters of gamma shielding μ, μ/ρ, Zeff, and ΣR, and also increases HVL, TVL, and MFP parameters, which based on the high atomic number of tellurium. Furthermore, the prepared glasses were effective shielding material which can reduce fast neutrons as well as gamma rays, illustrating that prepared glass system possesses excellent properties of gamma shielding.

Effect of silver iodide (AgI) on structural and optical properties of cobalt doped lead-borate glasses

Materials with distinct optical characteristics are still being explored. Hence, AgI doped cobalt-lead borate glasses of composition [29.7PbO – 0.3CoO – (70-x) B2O3 – xAgI (x = 0.0, 0.25, 0.5 and 1.0 mol%)] were synthesized via conventional melt quenching technique. XRD patterns and SEM micrographs confirmed the prepared glass system's amorphous nature; EDAX elemental analysis was also performed. According to increased density and decreased average boron-boron separation, AgI additives were found to enforce the glassy network's compactness. FT-IR analysis indicates the entry of AgI as a network modifier by converting the tetrahedral (BO4) to trigonal (BO3) units with NBO's ratio growth. The Raman data accords with FT-IR results and provides complementary information around these glasses by detecting additional structural groups. The ellipsometer spectroscopy technique confirmed the ability to control the refractive index of the current glassy system with the AgI addition. The absorption spectra clarified a gradual enhancement of Co3+/Co2+ ions at tetrahedral and/or octahedral sites by AgI additives. Ligand field parameters, such as crystal field intensity (10Dq)and Racah parameters(B&C), were accurately determined. The calculated nephelauxetic ratio (β)indicated a reducing covalent nature among Co2+ ions and the nearby bonds. Calculations of the UV absorption edges showed a clear red-shift by AgI additives with a remarkable gradual reduction of the optical band gap. Besides, the Urbach energy increased, and the metallization criterion varied from 0.394 to 0.391 eV-1, reflecting the semiconductor character of these glasses. The spectral tunability for optical absorption provided here by AgI additives qualifies present glasses as optically active materials for several potential applications in multi-functional optical devices operating in the visible and near-infrared (NIR) spectral regimes.

Synthesis, optical, structural, and radiation transmission properties of PbO/Bi2O3/B2O3/Fe2O3 glasses: An experimental and in silico study

In this paper, a new glass combination containing PbO, Bi2O3, B2O3, and Fe2O3 has been synthesized, characterized, and studied in details for advanced optical and radiation shielding applications. The PbO excess was in the step of 10% at the expense of (Bi2O3+B2O3). The physical and optical parameters were experimentally measured for each prepared glass sample.The structure characterization of the glass specimens was performed by using both FTIR and XRD. Moreover, EPR spectra were studied to give a full understanding about the valence state and interaction of paramagnetic ions. Additionally, Monte Carlo method was utilized to design the simulation setup for studying the radiation propagation through the prepared samples. The obtained results indicate thatthe optical band gap values were found to be high with excess of PbO content. The EPR spectra have shown a high intense resonance signal at g ≈ 4.2 and mild intense signal located at g ≈ 2.1. The magnitudes of linear attenuation coefficients for the glasses at different energies shows that maximum (minimum) value of 290.39 (0.158), 322.67 (0.168), 367.13 (0.184), 431.04 (0.207), 502.32 (0.231), and 574.34 (0.0257) cm−1 was obtained for PBBF-0 – PBBF-50. This investigation lays the foundation for using the prepared glass system as a new candidate in advanced optical and shielding applications.

Experimental investigation of zinc sodium borate glass systems containing barium oxide for gamma radiation shielding applications

Sodium zinc borate glasses doped with dysprosium and modified with different concentrations of barium oxide (0–50 mol %) were fabricated using the melting quenching technique. The structural properties of the prepared glass systems were characterized using XRD and FTIR methods. The absorption spectra of the prepared glasses were measured to determine their energy gap and their related optical properties. The density of the glasses and other physical parameters were also reported. Additionally, with the help of Photon Shielding and Dosimetry (PSD) software, we investigated the radiation shielding parameters of the prepared glass systems at different energy values. It was found that an increase in the density of the glasses by increasing the concentration of BaO significantly improved the gamma ray shielding ability of the samples. For practical results, a compatible irradiation set up was designed to check the shielding capability of the obtained glasses using a gamma ray source at 662 keV. The experimentally obtained results strongly agreed with the data obtained by PDS software at the same energy. These results demonstrated that the investigated glass system is a good candidate for several radiation shielding applications when comparing it with other commercial shielding glasses and concretes.

Synthesis, FTIR, and neutron/charged particle transmission properties of Pb3O4–SiO2–ZnO–WO3 glass system

A quaternary glass system described by the composition 35Pb3O4–60SiO2–(5-x)ZnO–xWO3 (0 ≤ x ≤ 5 mol%) was prepared via the ordinary method namely melt quenching. The amorphous state of this system was experimentally evaluated using X-ray diffraction. At room temperature, Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy was carried out to test the structure of each specimen by using the KBr technique for wavenumber of 4000–400 cm−1. The FTIR test demonstrated that structural units and connectivity of the modifier oxide tetrahedral increased, whereas non-bridging oxygen decreased as ZnO was substituted by WO3. The results of neutron transmission studies showed that 6 mm was the required thickness to reduce by half the intensity of the fast neutron beam; more specifically, the fast neutron transmission factor was 0.54, 0.53, 0.53, 0.51, and 0.49 for the prepared glass specimens G1, G2, G3, G4, and G5, respectively. For charged particles, the maximum range was observed in the high energy region (10 MeV) for all projectiles studied, with 8066.33 μm for electrons, 356.86 μm for protons, 39.30 μm for alpha particles, and 5.83 μm for carbon ions. The prepared glass system has promising features for use in various dosimetry and radiation protection applications at a neutron energy below 10 MeV.

Insights into spectroscopic aspects of Er3+ doped sulfophosphate glass embedded with titania nanoparticles

Abstract In this work, the glass system with composition of (59-x)P2O5–20MgO–20ZnSO4–1Er2O3-xTiO2 (where 0 ≤ x ≤ 0.6 mol%) was prepared using melt-quenching method. The impact of varying titania nanoparticles (TNPs) concentration on the luminescence and self-cleaning properties of the glass system was studied. XRD pattern of prepared glass systems confirmed their amorphous nature. TEM micrographs showed the presence of TiO2 NPs inside the glass matrix. Judd-Ofelt (JO) intensity parameters ( Ω 2 , Ω 4 , and Ω 6 ) and radiative parameters were evaluated from the measured optical spectra. The value of JO parameters Ω 2 , Ω 4 , and Ω 6 were ranged between (8.62–6.57) × 10−20 cm2, (2.81–2.26) × 10−20cm2, and (1.31–1.01) × 10−20cm2, respectively. The emission intensity of the glass samples showed up to 5 times enhancement compared with the one without TiO2 NPs. The values of stimulated emission cross-section were varied between (67.18–72.74) × 10−22 cm2 and (48.71–61.97) × 10−22 cm2 for 4F9/2 → 4I15/2 and 4S3/2 → 4I15/2, respectively. The self-cleaning characteristics of the glasses was investigated through water contact angle (WCA) and photodegradation rate of methylene blue (MB) measurements. The results revealed that proposed glass samples may be useful in photonic applications.

Effect of iron oxide on the structural and optical properties of alumino-borate glasses

To study the impact of iron oxide on the structural and photochromic properties of some alumino-borate glasses, a glass system 75% B2O3 + 5% Al2O3 + (20-y) % Na2O + y % Fe2O3; where y = 4, 2, and 0 was synthesized by melt-quenching technique. The amorphous nature of the prepared glass system was confirmed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. The existence and values of ratios of some structural groups such as; BO3 and BO4, were investigated by using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Traditional techniques and standard formulas were used to determine the experimental density (ρexp), empirical density (ρemp) and molar volume (Vm). The photochromic properties in terms of transmittance were employed to study the impact of sunlight on the optical properties. The ρemp, ρexp and Vm values of the investigated glasses showed increasing behaviors, whereas the optical band gap (Eg) showed an opposite behavior. Moreover, anomalous behavior for transmittance was obtained; increment with irradiation. These obtained results nominate these iron-borate glasses for potential and promising applications such as optoelectronic devices and solar cells.

Physical, structural, optical, and radiation shielding properties of B2O3- 20Bi2O3- 20Na2O2- Sb2O3 glasses: Role of Sb2O3

This paper focuses on the role of antimony oxide (up to 15 wt%) in the physical, structural, optical, and radiation attenuating characteristics of boro-bismuth glasses within B2O3-20Bi2O3- 20Na2O2- Sb2O3 system. This glass system was prepared by melting at 1250°C and quenching into water. The physical properties were studied by measuring the density, molar volume, and x-ray diffraction for the prepared glass system. The structural features were investigated by determining packing density, passion ratio, oxygen packing density, and oxygen molar volume. The optical attributes were explored by evaluating bandgap, Urbach energy, refractive index, and other related parameters such as dielectric constant, reflection loss, molar polarizability, molar refractivity, optical dielectric constant, optical electronegativity, electron polarizability, optical basicity, metallization, and cut-off wavelength. On the other hand, the shielding properties of the prepared glasses were studied against different types of radiation such as gamma, electron, proton, and neutron beams. The radiation studies were carried out by utilizing Geant4 simulations and the newly developed Phy-X/PSD program. The radiation-shielding characteristics of the present samples were examined in terms of mass attenuation coefficient, stopping power, half value layer, removal cross section, mean free path, and effective atomic number of gamma, electron, and proton beams. The results showed that antimony oxide content had an important influence on the shielding ability against all of the types of radiations. Additionally, the obtained results were compared with those of standard radiation shields. It can be concluded that the present glasses have a promising future to be used as radiation shielding material, wherein the antimony oxide concentration can be balanced according to the desired application.