Impact of Dy2O3 Substitution on the Physical, Structural and Optical Properties of Lithium–Aluminium–Borate Glass System

Experimental shielding properties for a novel glassy system

In the current study, we fabricated a series of boro-tellurite glass samples with a composition 10SrO-10Al₂O₃-10MoO₃-(70-x)B₂O₃-xTeO₂, where (x = 0, 17.5, 35, 52.5, and 70 mol%) via an ordinary melt-quench method. The glass structure was explored by X-ray diffraction (XRD), physical and structural properties. XRD results affirm the existence of two broad peaks, proving the amorphous state of the current glasses. The acquired results exhibit a linear relationship between the density, Poisson's ratio, and the addition of TeO₂ amounts. The addition of TeO₂ to the glass system shows a rise in glass stability and a reduction in packing density. Additionally, the values of mass attenuation coefficient (MAC) were determined experimentally within five energies (0.184, 0.280, 0.661, 0.710, and 0.810 MeV) from two radiation sources (¹⁶⁶Ho and ¹³⁷Cs). The (MAC)_exp results were compared with XCOM values, and the compared values showed excellent compatibility. From the experimental results, many radiation shielding features involving half-value layer (HVL), mean free path (MFP), tenth value layer (TVL), and radiation protection efficiency (RPE) were computed. From the obtained results, it can be concluded that the TeSB4 sample has the highest stability and absorption for radiation, indicating the ability to use it as a radiation shielding substance.

Novel Dy2O3/ZnO-Au ternary nanocomposites: Green synthesis using pomegranate fruit extract, characterization and their photocatalytic and antibacterial properties

In this study for the first time, high efficient, eco-friendly and novel Dy₂O₃/ZnO-Au ternary nanocomposites (Dy/ZnO-AuNCs) were prepared in presence of pomegranate fruit (PF) extract as capping and reducing agents (Dy/ZnO-AuNCs@PF). The influence of various parameters such as basic agents, reducing agents, sonication power, and sonication time were performed to reach the optimum condition. The formation of the products was characterized by FT-IR, HRTEM, XRD, FE-SEM, TEM, EDX and DRS techniques. The XRD and TEM analysis showed that the morphology and crystallite size of nanocomposites were spherical morphology and 85-90 nm, respectively. The obtained Dy/ZnO-AuNCs@PF were investigated as a nanocatalyst for degradation of erythrosine (ES) as anionic dye and basic violet 10 (BV10) as cationic dye under UV and visible light irradiations. The Dy/ZnO-AuNCs@PF exhibited higher photodegradation against ES (89.6%) and BV10 (91.3%) than pure Dy₂O₃ (63.1% for ES, 66.5% for BV10) and Dy₂O₃/ZnO (64.5% for ES, 70.8% for BV10) under UV irradiation. It was found that gold nanoparticles have significant effect on Dy/ZnO-AuNCs@PF catalytic performance for decomposition of organic pollutants. In addition, Dy/ZnO-AuNCs@PF showed excellent in-vitro antibacterial activity against A. baumannii, S. aureus and P. mirabilis with MIC and MBC values of (5, 80 mg/ml), (5, 40 mg/ml) and (2.5, 20 mg/ml), respectively. Generally, according to its excellent antibacterial and catalytic activity, Dy/ZnO-AuNCs@PF can be used in biomedical and environmental applications.