Elucidating the influences of MoO3 in Na2O- ZnO - B2O3 - SiO2: Fabrication, optical, and γ-ray protection properties for the novel high-density glasses

The melt-quenching method was employed to synthesize glasses with varying compositions within the xMoO3-(30−x) Na2O- 5ZnO - 43.5B2O3 - 21.5SiO2 system, where (0 ≤x≤ 10) mol%. The densities increased from 2.93 to 3.67 g/cm3, while their molar volumes decreased from 22.48 to 20.18 cm3/mol. Based on the measurements, the optical band gap of the base glass was 3.53 eV. At its highest MoO3 content, this value decreased to 2.34 eV. The Urbach energy values for NaMo0, NaMo2, NaMo4, NaMo6, and NaMo10 glasses were 0.258, 0.323, 0.348, 0.37, and 0.435 eV, respectively. With an increase in molybdenum level, it was observed that the refractive index values also increased. These structural, optical, and radiation shielding behaviors were attributed to the structural modifications resulting from substituting Na2O with MoO3, leading to improved radiation shielding efficiency with the addition of MoO3. The Fast Neutron Removal Cross Section (FNRCS) (∑R) for the NaMo0, NaMo2, NaMo4, NaMo6, and NaMo10 glasses were 0.116 cm-1, 0.12 cm-1, 0.127 cm-1, 0.131 cm-1, and 0.135 cm-1, respectively. From the current work, we may conclude that NaMo glasses can serve as efficient shields in nuclear radiation environments. In general, it can be deduced that adding Na2O-ZnO-B2O3-SiO2 glasses improves their optical characteristics and enhances their capacity to absorb neutrons and photons for use in nuclear medicine applications.