Optical, structural, and radiation shielding properties of Cr₂O₃, ZnO, and Y₂O₃ doped borotellurite glasses

This study aims to synthesize a new type of borotellurite glass doped with various oxides: Cr₂O₃, Y₂O₃ and ZnO for use in the radiation protection area. The synthesized glasses were given the following codes according to dopants: BT, BT-Cr, BT-Zn, and BT-Y. X-ray diffraction (XRD) was used to examine the glass system's amorphous nature. The optical properties were explored using UV–Vis spectroscopy. The radiation shielding features of the synthesized glasses were investigated theoretically using the Phy-X/PSD software without experimental validation. The density values are 5.049, 5.264, 5.293, and 5.252 g/cm³ for BT, BT-Cr, BT-Zn, and BT-Y. On the other side, the addition of Cr₂O₃ led to opaque glass samples compared with BT, BT-Zn, and BT-Y samples. Meanwhile, the XRD results approved the amorphous behavior of all samples. The band gap exhibited enhancement with the addition of Y₂O₃ and ZnO while showing reduction with the addition of Cr₂O₃. These results showed a variation in glass structure with the addition of different oxides. On the other side, the radiation shielding features exhibited variation with the addition of different oxides. For example, the linear attenuation coefficient (LAC) at 0.15 MeV is 6.62, 6.80, 6.85, and 6.93 cm⁻¹ for BT, BT-Y, BT-Cr, and BT-Zn, respectively. Finally, the obtained theoretical results indicate that the investigated glass samples are promising candidates for radiation shielding applications. Compared with the base BT glass, the modified samples exhibited improved shielding performance; in particular, the LAC at 0.15 MeV increased from 6.62 to 6.93 cm⁻¹ for BT-Zn, while the thermal neutron macroscopic cross section increased from 2.37 to 4.68 cm⁻¹ for BT-Cr. The novelty of this study lies in the systematic comparison of Cr₂O₃, ZnO, and Y₂O₃ modifiers within the same Bi₂O₃-containing borotellurite host, enabling a unified assessment of their effects on optical performance as well as gamma and thermal neutron shielding.