Recycling and optimizing waste lab glass with Bi2O3 nanoparticles to use as a transparent shield for photons

This study aims to experimentally analyze the radiation shielding capabilities of micro and nano bismuth oxide waste glasses by evaluating the effect of particle size, bismuth oxide content, and energy on the attenuation abilities of the samples. Waste glasses were powdered and combined with varying amounts of bismuth oxide with different particle sizes to test a total of seven waste glasses using the collimate gamma-ray technique. Energy dispersive X-ray analysis and a scanning electron microscope were used to determine the homogeneity of the samples. The experimental mass attenuation coefficient for the micro Bi2O3 samples was compared with values obtained from the XCOM program to determine their accuracy. From these values, the linear attenuation factor and the radiation protection efficiency of the waste glass samples were obtained. The results demonstrated that the smaller particle size of the glasses with nanoparticles led to an enhancement in their radiation shielding properties compared to the samples with microparticles. This improvement occurs because of the greater homogeneity provided by the smaller particles, allowing for more interactions between the glasses and the incoming radiation, leading to greater attenuation. The pure glass sample has a radiation protection efficiency (RPE) of 45.29% at 0.06 MeV, while the samples with Bi2O3 have RPE values ranging from 83.85 to 99.73%. The RPE for the sample with 30 w.t% micro Bi2O3 is equal to 39.43% at 0.356 MeV while the sample with 30 w.t% nano Bi2O3 is equal to 44.44%. Thus, it was concluded that the nano bismuth oxide samples are more effective at shielding gamma-rays than the micro bismuth oxide waste glasses.