Composition influence of La 2 O 3 on the structural and radiation shielding features of CoO–Na 2 O–ZnO–B 2 O 3 glass matrix

To examine the structural and radiation shielding features of a borate glass matrix comprising sodium oxide (Na 2 O), lanthanum oxide (La 2 O 3 ), cobalt oxide (CoO), and zinc oxide (ZnO), we employed the FTIR technique in the range 400–1600 cm −1 and Phy-X within the photon energy between 0.015 and 15 MeV. The measured density changed from 2.179 g/cm3 to 2.931 g/cm3 with additional La 2 O 3 dopants, from 0 to 8 mol%. Based on the FTIR results, it was seen that the contents of tetrahedral borate units (BO 4 ) increase with additional La 2 O 3 dopants. Therefore, the values of N4 ratios increased from 46.86% to 49.36%, suggesting that the La 2 O 3 dopants transform the tetrahedral borate units ( BO3 ) to BO4 units; this result supports the density increments. While, the contents of nonbridging oxygen atoms decreased from 8.23% to 5.77% when B 2 O 3 is replaced with La 2 O 3. Additionally, the ionizing radiation shielding investigations confirmed that increasing the amount of La 2 O 3 at the expense of B 2 O 3 leads to better overall shielding ability by increasing the mass attenuation coefficient (MAC) values. Furthermore, the additional concentrations of La 2 O 3 decreased half value layer (HVL) of the glass matrix. The comparison between the studied glass matrix HVL and selected common ionizing radiation shielding materials HVL reflects the positive effects of La 2 O 3 on shielding ability. The improved radiation shielding features of the investigated glass matrix propose them for ionizing radiation shielding protection.