Photon–glass interactions in praseodymium (III, IV) oxide nanoparticle-modified tellurite glasses: structural and shielding correlations

This study aimed to investigate the changes in physical, optical and gamma radiation shielding properties by incorporating Pr₆O₁₁ nanoparticles (nps) into zinc-tellurium oxyfluoride (TeO₂-ZnO-ZnF₂) glass composition, which has not been studied before. Four doped and undoped glasses were synthesized by melt-quenching method by adding 0,1,3, and 5 mol% Pr₆O₁₁(np) nanoparticles to 70%TeO₂-15%ZnO-15%ZnF₂ structure. Structural, optical and gamma radiation shielding properties of synthesized glasses were characterized by XRD, UV-Vis spectroscopy and Phy-X/PSD program. XRD analyses showed that glasses were amorphous and Pr₆O₁₁(np) additive did not cause crystallization. Density increased from 5.496 to 5.663 g/cm³ and molar volume increased from 25.3688 to 32.4091 cm³/mol with increasing Pr₆O₁₁(np) concentration. This situation revealed an expansion in the network structure and an increase in density. Optical analysis showed that the doped glasses exhibited absorption peaks specific to Pr³⁺ ions in the range of 449–1017 nm, and the optical band gap of the glasses decreased from 3.121 to 2.690 eV depending on the doping ratio. Urbach energy increased from 0.172 to 0.252 eV, indicating that structural order was disrupted, and decreased at high concentrations, indicating that the structure started to re-order. Radiation shielding properties were characterized with the parameters of mass attenuation coefficient (MAC), linear attenuation coefficient (LAC), half-value layer (HVL) and effective atomic number (Z_eff). MAC increased from 53.51 to 54.88 cm²/g at 0.015 MeV, LAC increased from 294.12 to 310.78 cm⁻¹ and HVL decreased from 0.0024 to 0.0022 cm⁻¹, indicating that Pr₆O₁₁(np) doping improved the shielding performance by enhancing photoelectric interactions at low energies. At high energies, the differences due to Compton scattering and pair production decreased. EBF and EABF values ​​decreased with Pr₆O₁₁(np), confirming the suppression of secondary radiation. In conclusion, Pr₆O₁₁(np) doping improves both the optical and radiation shielding properties of zinc-tellurium oxyfluoride glasses, offering potential for nuclear security and optoelectronic applications.