Studies of the Effect of Neodymium Nanoparticles on Radiation Shielding Properties of Zinc-Tellurite Glass System

Abstract

The study seeks to evaluate the radiation shielding properties of Neodymium Nanoparticles doped Zinc-Tellurite Glass System with  chemical composition  [(TeO2)0.70(ZnO)0.30](1)(Nd2O3 NPs)(x),  = 0.01, 0.02, 0.03,0.04, and 0.05 mol glass, and are coded as S1, S2, S3, S4 and S5 in increasing Nd2O3. The glasses were prepared by using a conventional method of melt quenching. Phy-X/PSD simulation software was used to determine the mass attenuation coefficient (MAC), linear attenuation coefficient (LAC), half value layer (HVL), effective atomic number (Zeff) of the investigated glasses. The maximum values for all the glasses were observed at the lowest tested energy, 0.28 MeV. At this energy, the MAC of the glasses can be observed to increase as the Nd2O3 concentration of the sample increases as well, which could be due to the increase in density. The minimum HVL values occurred at the lowest tested energy, 0.2447 MeV, and increased with increasing energy, meaning that the glasses are more effective at lower energies. The results proved that the S5 glass, the glass with the greatest Nd2O3 content and density, has the greatest potential for radiation shielding applications.