Enhanced the optical, electrical, and shielding properties of some alkali-borate glasses doped with lanthanide cerium oxide, CeO₂

Sodium borate glass doped with cerium oxide, 0–10 wt%, has been prepared based on the quenching method from the melting point. The XRD, DSC, FTIR, and UV–Vis are used to study the structure, thermal, optical properties and shielding attenuation of the studied materials. XRD analysis showed that the as-prepared samples are amorphous in nature. Increased CeO₂ content in the glassy matrix led to an increase in the glass stability, the dielectric constant value, as well as the optical transparency. The measured shielding parameters of the present study revealed that the glass system containing 10 wt% of CeO₂ exhibits the better photon shielding performance than the glass of 0 wt% CeO₂. Cerium-rich glass showed the highest resistance for both gamma-ray and the fast neutrons among all the present samples. The removal cross-sections varied from between 89 × 10^–3 cm⁻¹, for the cerium-free sample, and 97 × 10^–3 cm⁻¹ for cerium-rich sample. Such observation may nominated Ce-rich glass to be used in some shielding and attenuation applications, especially for gamma-ray and fast neutrons applications.