Effect of ZnO nanoparticles on physical, optical and radiation shielding properties of Bi2O3-B2O3-Cr2O3 glasses

Abstract

With a composition (in mol %) of 29Bi2O3-70B2O3-(1-x)Cr2O3: xZnO, (where, x = 0, 0.5 and 1) three glass samples were prepared by melt-quenching process. Despite the addition of ZnO nanoparticles, the SEM- morphology studies showed that the synthesized samples were transparent glass-ceramics. XRD studies confirmed that ZnO nanoparticles were homogeneously distributed in the glassy phase. When ZnO nanoparticles were added, oxygen packing density (OPD) was observed to increase, whereas boron-boron separation (dB-B) gradually decreased. The Raman spectra demonstrated that there was transformation of primary glass forming units, [BO3] → [BO4] units from x = 0 to 1 mol% of ZnO nanoparticles in the composition. Two absorption bands (in blue and red regions) have been attributed to the d-d transitions of Cr3+ ions in octahedral symmetry sites. When ZnO nanoparticles were added in the composition, the bandgap (Eo) was found to increase, and the non-linear optical susceptibility (χ(3)) decreased. Various gamma ray shielding properties of the samples have been determined in the energy range of 1 keV–15 MeV with the help of the Windows based program EpiXS. The sample with highest concentration of ZnO nanoparticles in the composition showed better radiation shielding behaviour among the three samples.

Keywords

• Bismuth-borate glasses
• Zinc oxide nanoparticles
• Raman spectroscopy
• Optical susceptibility
• Attenuation coefficients
• Buildup factors