Copper-Doped Borate Glass Systems: Fabrication, Physical and Optical Characteristics, and Efficiency of Radiation Attenuation.

Copper-doped borate zinc sodium fluoride glasses with the chemical formula 70B₂O₃-10ZnO-(20 − x)NaF-xCuO: x = 0.0 (BZNC0.0)−1.0 (BZNC1.0) mol.% were fabricated via the rapid cooling technique. Physical and linear optical characteristics and photon, electron, proton, and alpha particle attenuation capacities were explored. The glass densities (i.e., ρ) were improved from 2.932 g/cm³ to 2.975 g/cm³ and the molar volume (V_m) decreased from 22.261 cm³/mol to 22.062 cm³/mol for BZNC0.0 to BZNC1.0 glasses. The direct ( E OBG Direct ) and indirect ( E OBG Indirect ) optical band gap decreased with increasing Cu²⁺ ions in the glassy networks. The direct optical band gap ( E OBG Direct ) decreased from 3.85 eV to 3.28 eV, whereas the indirect optical band gap ( E OBG Indirect ) varied between 3.29 eV and 3.02 eV. The Urbach energy (E_U) was enhanced from 0.084 eV to 0.131 eV. The extinction coefficient (k), refractive index (n), surface energy loss function (SELF), and volume energy loss function (VELF) were improved as the molar ratio of Cu²⁺ increased in the glass structural backbone. The mass attenuation coefficient (MAC) and linear attenuation coefficient (LAC) were enhanced as Cu²⁺ ions increased. The results of the induced effective atomic number (Z_eff) of various interactions confirmed that (Z_eff)_photon > (Z_eff)_beta > (Z_eff)_proton > (Z_eff)_alpha. Thus, the proposed glasses may be utilized in several opto-radiation shield applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]