Radiation Resistance of Optical Nanopowder Modified by Y₂O₃ Particles

The paper studies the electron irradiation at an energy of 30 keV affecting the diffuse-reflectance spectra and integrated absorption coefficient of solar irradiance of the micron-sized mZnO powder modified by adding nY₂O₃ nanoparticles in the amount of 0.1 to 10 wt.%. The best content of nanoparticles is found to be 3 wt.%, when the diffuse-reflectance spectra and the integrated absorption coefficient of the modified powder are 1.41 times lower than in the initial powder. It is shown that free electrons forming during the powder irradiation, make the highest contribution to the powder degradation.