A significant study for radiation shielding applications: synthesis of waste CRT-derived glass systems containing CoO

In this work, we synthesized waste CRT-derived glass systems doped with varying amounts of CoO for understanding the radiation shielding abilities. For achieving this, the glass system of xCoO—(100-x)CRTs (x: 0, 2.5, 5., 7.5, and 10 wt%) was designed, and Co0 to Co10 glass series were fabricated via traditional melt quenching technique. According to the physical measurements, the undoped sample, Co0, showed a transparent appearance under ambient light, whereas the samples containing CoO displayed an opaque view. Additionally, the Co0 sample had a density value of 2.8828 g. cm−3 while Co2.5 to Co10 samples achieved 2.9542, 3.0261, 3.1423, and 3.2214 g. cm−3, respectively. On the other hand, Vm values were found to be 24.16, 23.62, 23.10, 22.29, and 21.78 cm−3. mol−1 for the glass series from Co0 to Co10 in the respective order. Within the context of radiation shielding features, spectroscopic measurements were carried out at 662, 1173, and 1332 keV gamma-ray energies. We found out that the LAC linearly increased with the increasing CoO rate in the glass. Further, the experiments and calculations (XCOM) revealed a good agreement with each other. The experimental results of the LAC ranged from 0.1437 cm−1(for Co0 at 1332 keV) to 0.3214 cm−1 (for Co10 at 662 keV). Based upon LAC values, other essential parameters such as mean free path (mfp), half-value layer (HVL), and tenth value layer (TVL) were assessed, and we obtained that all three parameters were in decreasing trend as a function of increasing CoO insertion ratio. In conclusion, one can valorize waste CRT glasses contained with CoO substance for radiation shielding applications.