Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Non-Crystalline Solids journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jnoncrysol Investigationofoptical,physical,andgamma-rayshieldingfeaturesofnovel vanadyl boro-phosphate glasses Y.S. Rammah a , Gökhan Kilic b , R. El-Mallawany a , U. Gökhan Issever b , F.I. El-Agawany a, ⁎ a Physics Department, Faculty of Science, Menoufa University, 32511 Shebin El Koom, Egypt b Eskişehir Osmangazi University, Faculty of Science and Letters, Department of Physics, Eskişehir, Turkey ARTICLEINFO Keywords: Boro-phosphate glasses ASF DASF γ-ray WinXCOM ABSTRACT In this paper, novel vanadyl boro-phosphate glasses with the chemical formula (100 − x)(0.5V 2 O 5 -0.5P 2 O 5 )- xB 2 O 3 (x =0,2,4,6,8mol%)havebeensynthesizedusingmelt-quenchingmethod.Theamorphousstateofthe glasses was checked through XRD measurements. UV–vis spectra were recorded in the range of 200–1100 nm wavelength. The optical energy band gaps via Tauc's model, absorbance spectrum ftting (ASF), and the frst derivation of the absorption spectrum ftting (DASF) methods have been calculated for all glasses. Urbach's energy and refractive index of the prepared glasses also calculated. Gamma-photons shielding capability of the proposed glasses have been evaluated in terms of mass attenuation coefcient (μ/ρ) which calculated using WinXCOMsoftware.Basedthe(μ/ρ),halfvaluelayer(HVL),meanfreepath(MFP),andefectiveatomicnumber (Z ef ) were calculated. The results show that energy gaps for all glasses were close together, but the index of refraction was high around 4. Results of HVL, MFP, and Z ef confrmed that VPB0 glass sample (free with boron) has good attenuation capability compared to other VPB (with boron additions) glasses. Moreover, gamma-ray protectionabilityofthecurrentglasseswascomparedwiththatofsomecommercialglasses.Itcanbeconcluded that the prepared glass samples could be useful to design or develop novel shields for radiation protection applications. 1. Introduction With the advancing technology, diversity of glasses that have been synthesized as goal-oriented has reached an enormous extent. Establishing the characteristics of these synthesized glasses has made great progress recently and gained an important place in the materials science.Glassstructurescontainingvanadium,whichisoneofthebasic compounds forming glass network are found in the literature [1]. Va- nadium containing glasses are interesting in respect to their semi- conducting properties and fnd place in most electronic applications [2]. These applications are basically memory and optical switching, fber optic and other solid-state devices. Vanadium doped glasses are known to be n-type semiconductors for low V +4 /V +5 ratio [3]. Having semiconducting property resulted in the examination of the character- istics of these glasses in electrical, optical, and structural areas [4–6]. Phosphate based glasses are interesting materials for electronic devices by being eco-friendly and also by having low melting points, ultraviolet transmittance properties and thermal expansion coefcients [7]. Having high transmittance values make rare earth elements ap- propriate hosts and therefore they are being used in laser applications [8–10].Theirmostimportantdisadvantageisbeinghighlyhygroscopic. In addition, alkaline oxide doped phosphate glasses are more durable and stable [11]. Phosphate glasses’ forming glasses by combining with boron oxide increases durability in a similar manner [12–14]. Struc- tural and optical properties of phosphate glasses are frequently en- countered in the literature. Vanadium phosphate glasses have excellent properties such as low melting points, high thermal expansion and high UV transmittance [15], however undoped, pure V 2 O 5 -P 2 O 5 glasses sensitivity to moisture is still an important problem. Electrical conductivity and structural properties of these glasses have been examined and studies directed to advance their conductivity mechanisms have been performed [16,17]. In addition, focusing on structural studies to eliminate sensitivity to moisture is another fact that can be seen in the literature. In these studies, B 2 O 3 was also observed to be present in the structure as a regulator in addition to alkaline and earth alkaline elements [18]. Optical amplifers in telecommunication, phosphorescence materials and electrochemical batteries are among the area of utilization for glasses prepared by doping boron containing vanadium-phosphate glasses with rare earth elements [19]. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnoncrysol.2020.119905 Received 21 November 2019; Received in revised form 10 January 2020; Accepted 11 January 2020 ⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail address: fouaadesmael@yahoo.com (F.I. El-Agawany). Journal of Non-Crystalline Solids 533 (2020) 119905 0022-3093/ © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. T