Electrical, optical and high energy radiation shielding study of TMI-doped multi-component glasses

Barium-boro-bismuthate glass system having composition x MoO 3 -(10− x )V 2 O 5 -25BaO-20B 2 O 3 -45Bi 2 O 3 (where x = 0.0, 1.0, 3.0, 5.0 and 8.0 mol%) were prepared through melt-quench technique and studied their electrical, optical and thermal behaviour. The analysis of frequency and temperature-dependent curves of dielectric parameters and ac conductivity for all prepared compositions, suggests their usability in energy storage, semiconducting and non-linear opto-electronic applications. Optical parameters, such as indirect allowed band gap, refractive index and Urbach energy for as-synthesized and annealed glasses (annealed at 723 K for 5 h) were calculated using UV–Vis optical absorption spectra. A small increase in indirect optical band-gap values (i.e. from 1.89 to 2.16 eV) with increasing molybdenum content, suggests a decrease in localized states inside band-gap. Small change in values of refractive indices after annealing indicates transparent glass ceramic nature of all annealed glass samples. Characteristic temperatures including glass transition ( T g ~ 405 °C) and peak crystallization ( T c ~ 450 °C) for glass samples were identified from Differential Thermal Analysis (DTA) curve. Gamma ray shielding ability of glasses was investigated through Phy-X/PSD program. Shielding parameters, including mass attenuation coefficient ( μ m ), half value layer (HVL), mean free path (MFP), effective atomic number ( Z eff ) suggests their usability for gamma ray shielding and nuclear waste storage purposes in nuclear reactors. As per HVL parameter, 3-cm-thick glass layer of prepared samples can diminish the intensity of incident radiations to half of its initial value.