Synthesis, optical, and gamma attenuation properties of lead-doped borosilicate glasses.

Borosilicate glass doped with lead oxide (75-x)B₂O₃-5SiO₂-10 Li₂CO₃-10ZnO-xPbO, where x = 5, 10, 15, 20, and 25 mol%, was created using the melt quenching technique. As the PbO level rises from 5 to 25%, the samples’ density grows from 2.6584 to 4.1435 g/cm³, while their molar volume values decline from 29.4981 to 26.339 cm³. UV–visible measurements revealed a reduction in the optical energy gap, an improvement in optical absorption, and an optical redshift toward higher wavelengths. While the direct optical band gap (E_OBG) ranged between 5.32 and 3.01 eV, the corresponding indirect optical band gap (E_OBG) fell from 4.82 to 3.13 eV. There was an increase in the Urbach energy (E_U) from 0.257 for P-5 to 0.293 eV for P-25. Plotting the dielectric constant (ε₁, ε₂), extinction coefficient (k), and refractive index (n) as a function of wavelength reveals that they all rise as the PbO content in the glass structure increases. The current research also focuses on examining how PbO affects the glass system’s ability to protect from gamma rays using the computer programs Phy-X/PSD and XCOM. At gamma ray energy of 0.5 MeV, the recorded data showed an enhancement in the linear attenuation coefficient of the manufactured composites from 0.2338 to 0.4143 cm⁻¹. Furthermore, the half-value thickness values of the produced composites decrease from 2.965 to 1.673 cm, respectively, due to the additional PbO content of (5–25) mol%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]