Nd₂O₃- doped borate/phosphate glasses for optical and radiation shielding applications: fabrication, physical, optical as well as gamma-ray attenuation capacity

Four glass systems of Nd₂O₃- doped borate/phosphate glasses with nominal compositions of (58-x)B₂O₃ + 25P₂O₅ + 7BaO + 10Li₂O + xNd₂O₃:(0 (BPBLN0) ≤ x ≤ 3 (BPBLN3)) molar percentage were obtained by ordinary melt-quench approach. Physical properties, XRD measurements, and UV–Vis spectroscopy for these glass blocks were investigated. Also, the influence of the insertion of Nd³⁺ ions in structured glass on gamma-ray attenuation competence has been examined at selected photon energy (283.5 keV (¹³⁷Cs)–2506 keV (⁶⁰Co) via FLUKA code and Phy-X/PSD online platform. XRD patterns pinpointed a loss of ordered crystalline structure and verified the amorphous state of the glass blocks. Density (ρ_glass) of enhanced from 2.71 to 2.86 g/cm³. The optical-energy-gap (E_g) diminished from 4.12 to 3.91 eV and 3.45 eV to 3.20 eV for direct and indirect transitions, respectively. The Urbach-energy (E_U) values were ranged from 0.74 eV for BPBLN0 to 0.35 eV for BPBLN3 glass. Mass-attenuation-coefficient was increased as Nd⁺³ ions increased in glass structure as: (BPBLN3)_MAC > (BPBLN2)_MAC > (BPBLN1)_MAC > (BPBLN0)_MAC. At incoming photon energy, E = 2506 keV, the half-value-layer were decreased as Nd⁺³ ions increased in glass structure as HVL = 6.603 cm, 6.510 cm, 6.392 cm, and 6.227 cm for BPBLN0, BPBLN1, BPBLN2, and BPBLN3 samples, respectively. The effective-atomic-number (Z_eff) followed the trend: (BPBLN3)_Zeff > (BPBLN2)_Zeff > (BPBLN1)_Zeff > (BPBLN0)_Zeff. These outcomes confirmed that BPBLN-glass systems have the prospective to be regarded as suitable materials for applications involving optical and radiation attenuation.