Zinc-sodium-borate glasses reinforced with nickel (II) oxide: Fabrication, structural properties and gamma-ray attenuation ability

Zinc-lead-borate glasses doped with sodium oxides and varying molar quantities of nickel oxide ranging from 0.5 to 2.5 mol% having the form (70-x)B₂O₃–5ZnO–20Na₂O–5PbO-xNiO denoted as Ni0.0 - Ni2.5 have been created using standard melt quenching procedure. The physical, structural, and radiation shielding competence of the samples under consideration have all been evaluated. The density of these glasses grew as the NiO portion in their glassy structure increased. Introduction of Ni ions generated magnified changes in the local field of borate ions, resulting in the formation of tetrahedral BO4 units. Values of the mass-attenuation coefficients (MACs) increased considerably with increasing NiO content. For NiO concentrations of 0.0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, and 2.5 mol%, the obtained linear-attenuation coefficients (LACs) were 44.376, 45.398, 46.565, 47.977, 49.328, and 50.737 cm⁻¹ at 0.015 MeV, respectively. The lowest half value layer (HVL) values were obtained at 0.015 MeV and ranged from 0.016 to 0.014 cm for Ni0.0 and Ni2.5, respectively. At photon energy (Eγ = 0.015 and 15 MeV), the effective atomic number (Z_eff) of the investigated glasses ranged from 43.99 to 10.80 and 42.44 to 11.08 for Ni0.0 and Ni2.5, respectively.