Fabrication, structural, physical, optical characteristics and γ-ray attenuation capacity of borosilicate glasses doped with Gd2O3

Barium fluoride borosilicate glass samples reinforced with varying amounts of Gd 2 O 3 (BSBLG0–BSBLG4) have been manufactured using the conventional melt quenching procedure in order to provide additional research on the type of borosilicate glass. Structural, physical, and linear optical characteristics as well as γ-ray attenuation capacity of barium fluoride borosilicate doped with Gd 2 O 3 was investigated. X-ray diffraction pattern proving the amorphous nature of the glass samples due to the absence of a distinctive crystalline characteristic peak. The density (ρ) slightly increased from 2.74 g/cm 3 to 2.91 g/cm 3 and the molar volume (V m ) ranged from 31.27 cm 3 /mol to 31.49 cm 3 /mol with increasing Gd 2 O 3 substitution ratio. The UV-Vis absorption spectra revealed a considerable increase in the absorbance of the glass samples in the visible and ultraviolet wavelength range and the UV absorption edge shifted to a higher wavelength as the Gd 2 O 3 substitution ratio increased. The direct optical gap (E g ) ranged from 3.40 eV to 3.21 eV, while the indirect values dropped from 2.88 eV to 2.74 eV. The values of Urbach’s energy (E u ) increased from 0.35 eV to 0.38 eV. The dispersion and indices of refraction were significantly impacted by Gd 2 O 3 concentration. Real (ε 1 ) and imaginary (ε 2 ) parts of optical dielectric constants improved as the ratio of Gd 3+ ions increased. Mass attenuation coefficient (MAC), linear attenuation coefficient (LAC), and effective atomic number (Z eff ) parameters were increased as Gd 2 O 3 content increased in the glass networks. Half-value layer (HVL) and mean free path (MFP) followed the order: BSBLG0 > BSBLG1 > BSBLG2 > BSBLG3 > BSBLG4. Results concluded that the suggested glasses cab be applied in opt-electronic devices and radiation shielding applications.