Synthesis and characterisation of dysprosium-doped borate glasses for use in radiation dosimeters

Abstract

This paper reports on the synthesis and characterisation of Dy2O3-doped magnesium borate (MB) glasses containing different modifiers, lithium, calcium, and sodium oxides. Glasses composed of (70-z)B2O3-20Li2O; CaO; Na2O-10MgO-zDy2O3 (where 0.05≤z≤0.7 mol%) were prepared using the melt-quenching method. X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern of the as-quenched samples verified their amorphous character. Differential thermal analysis (DTA) confirmed excellent glass-forming ability and thermal stability in the range of 0.60-0.67 and 0.18-0.82, respectively. The energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectra verified the precise elemental traces in the studied glasses. Furthermore, MB glasses doped with 0.1 mol% of Dy2O3 and modified with lithium oxide were found to have the best soft tissue equivalence (Zeff≈8.13). In short, the proposed MB glass system doped with dysprosium ions (Dy3+) was established as effective for accurate radiation detection in emergency situations.