Enhancement of Structural, Optical, Magnetic, and γ-Ray Shielding Properties of Silicate Glass Containing Cerium Oxide for Opto-magnetic Uses

Alkaline-cerium silicate glasses based on the 30CaO-20MgO-5P₂O₅-45SiO₂ (mol%) + CeO₂ system were successfully prepared by the melt-quenching route. Cerium dioxide was added as 0.0 g (G1), 0.5 g (G1), 1.5 g (G3), 3 g (G4), and g 5 (G5) over a 100% glass batch. The prepared glasses were characterized by x-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), UV-visible spectroscopy, and vibrating-sample magnetometry. The efficiency of the prepared glass as γ-ray protection was evaluated. The amorphous nature of the designed materials was observed for all samples by XRD analysis. The FTIR results confirmed that the bands appearing for G1–G5 represented the main properties of the tetrahedral silicate network SiO₄, as silica was the major constituent of the amorphous samples. Values of optical energy band gap (E_g) changed from 3.561 eV to 2.552 eV in the direct transition, while for the indirect transition, the E_g reduced from 3.183 eV to 2.292 eV. The Urbach energy (E_U) values ranged from 0.265 eV to 0.205 eV. The refractive index (n) of the investigated glasses improved from 1.253 to 1.572. The energy of the single oscillator (E_o) reduced from 3.988 eV for the G1 sample to 2.915 eV for the G5 sample. The saturation magnetization (M_s) values for the G1, G3, and G5 samples were 0.33414, 0.40572, and 0.49505 emu/g, respectively. The coercivity (H_ci) ranged from 36.669 G to 53.321 G, while the remanence magnetization (M_r) ranged from 3.356 to 6.325 (emu/g) E⁻³. The hysteresis area showed a range of 32.687 to 46.325 (erg/g) at ± 20 kOe. The G5 sample possessed the lowest EBF and EABF values among all investigated glasses. These results validate the suitability of the examined G1–G5 glasses for use in the fields of optical and γ-ray shielding.