Significantly enhanced physical, structural, optical, and radiological properties of borate glasses via Eu and Yb rare earth doping

The borate glasses 75B₂O₃–5ZnO–5Nb₂O₅–10BaO–(5–x–y)PbO–x[Eu₂O₃] + y(Yb₂O₃), where x = 0, 1, 2, and y = 2, 3 mol.%, were prepared using the melt-quench process in this study. The influence of the Eu₂O₃ and Yb₂O₃ on the glass system’s physical, optical, and radiation interaction features were investigated following series of experimental, simulation, and standard theoretically procedures. The minimum and maximum density of 3.16 g/cm³ and 3.21 g/cm³ were obtained for glass sample having 2 and 0 mol.% of PbO, respectively. The increase in the Eu₂O₃ and Yb₂O₃ concentrations directly led to an increase in the molar volume of the glass system from 31.19 to 32.42 cm³/mol. A decrease in the concentration of PbO relative to Eu₂O₃ and Yb₂O₃ in the glass samples resulted in the decrement of the optical absorption of the glass matrix in the UV–VIS region. There mass attenuation coefficients of the glasses slightly increased with density for 15 keV–15 MeV gamma-rays. The present glasses generally had values of effective atomic number between 10.39 and 48. The glasses investigated in the present showed better gamma-ray absorption and fast neutron moderation abilities than many previously investigated and standard shielding materials. The borate glass sample of Y3E2-Pb0 can be adopted as effective transparent ionizing radiation absorbers.