The direct influence of La³⁺ ions on the gamma-ray shielding properties of cobalt-doped heavy metal borate glasses with the chemical formula 0.3CoO-(80-x)B₂O₃-19.7PbO-xLa₂O₃: x = 0, 0.5, 1, 1.5, and 2 mol% was examined herein. Several significant radiation shielding parameters were evaluated. The glass density was increased from 3.11 to 3.36 g/cm³ with increasing La³⁺ ion content from 0 to 2 mol%. The S5 glass sample, which contained the highest concentration of La³⁺ ions (2 mol%), had the maximum linear (μ) and mass (μ_m) attenuation coefficients for all photon energies entering, while the S1 glass sample free of La³⁺ ions possessed the minimum values of μ and μ_m. Both the half value layer (T_1/2) and tenth value layer (TVL) of all investigated glasses showed a similar trend of (T_1/2, TVL)_S1 > (T_1/2, TVL)_S2 > (T_1/2, TVL)_S3 > (T_1/2, TVL)_S4 > (T_1/2, TVL)_S5. Our results revealed that the S5 sample had the highest effective atomic number (Z_eff) values over the whole range of gamma-ray energy. S5 had the lowest exposure (EBF) and energy absorption (EABF) build-up factor values across the whole photon energy and penetration depth range. Our findings give a strong indication of the S5 sample’s superior gamma-ray shielding characteristics due to the highest contribution of lanthanum oxide.

In this work, solid flexible polymer blend electrolytes (PBE) composed of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP) with different amounts of sodium thiocyanate (NaSCN) salt mixed in double-distilled water (solvent) are prepared via solution casting method. The obtained films are characterized using several techniques. The study of the surface morphology of the polymer blend salt complex films via the POM technique reveals the presence of amorphous regions due to the NaSCN effect. FTIR spectra studies confirm the complex formation between PVA, PVP, and NaSCN. The addition of 20 wt% NaSCN salt in the composition PVA: PVP (50:50 wt%) polymer blend matrix leads to an increase in the number of charge carriers and thus improves the ionic conductivity. The ionic conductivity of each polymer blend electrolyte was studied using the electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) method. The highest room temperature ionic conductivity of 8.1 × 10⁻⁵ S/cm S cm⁻¹ is obtained for the composition of PVA: PVP (50:50 wt%) with 20 wt% NaSCN. LSV test shows the optimized ion-conducting polymer blend electrolyte is electrochemically stable up to 1.5 V. TNM analysis reveals that 99% of ions contribute for the conductivity against 1% of electrons only in the highly conductive polymer electrolyte PVA: PVP (50:50 wt%) + 20 wt% NaSCN. A supercapacitor device was fabricated using the optimized ion-conducting polymer blend film and graphene oxide (GO) coated electrodes. The GCD curve clearly reveals the behavior of an ideal capacitor with less Faradic process and low ESR value. The columbic efficiency of the GO-based system is found to be 100%, the GO-based electrode exhibits a specific capacitance of 12.15 F/g and the system delivers the charge for a long duration. The specific capacitance of the solid-state supercapacitor cell was found to be 13.28 F/g via the CV approach close to 14.25 F/g obtained with EIS data at low frequency.

Flexible polymeric film composites consisting of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and Sudan IV azo dye (Su-IV) were synthesized using a casting method. Despite the known optical properties of PVA and azo dyes individually, the combined effects of Su-IV doping in PVA on the material’s optical and nonlinear optical properties have not been thoroughly investigated. This study addresses this gap by exploring the interactions between PVA and Su-IV at various doping concentrations (0.1–0.8 wt%) and their subsequent impact on the material’s structural and optical characteristics. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy was employed to identify distinct vibrational groups within the composites, revealing that the incorporation of Su-IV induced random deviations in most absorption intensities compared to pristine PVA. Notably, new peaks at 519 and 444 cm⁻¹ emerged, intensifying with increasing Su-IV concentrations, indicating significant interactions between the composite constituents. The optical properties were analyzed through transmittance and reflectance measurements, which uncovered new absorption peaks at 518 and 357 nm in PVA/Su-IV composites. These peaks correspond to electronic energy transitions of 2.4 and 3.6 eV, respectively, and their intensities increased with higher Su-IV content. Additionally, the indirect and direct bandgaps were decreased as Su-IV concentrations increased. The refractive index (n) analysis showed typical dispersion behavior between 850 and 2500 nm, aligning with the Wemple-DiDomenico (WDD) model. Furthermore, the oscillator parameters were calculated. Also, the nonlinear optical susceptibility (χ⁽³⁾) was boosted from 4.19 × 10⁻⁶ for pure PVA to 3.60 × 10⁻⁴ for the sample with 0.8 wt% Su-IV. The nonlinear refractive index (n₂) was also measured at 8.55 × 10⁻² for the doped sample. These findings demonstrate the potential of PVA/Su-IV composites for applications in nonlinear optics and photonics.

In recent decades, the enhancement of the properties of electrolytes and electrodes resulted in the development of efficient electrochemical energy storage devices. We herein reported the impact of the different polymer electrolytes in terms of physicochemical, thermal, electrical, and mechanical properties of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). Since LIBs use many groups of electrolytes, such as liquid electrolytes, quasi-solid electrolytes, and solid electrolytes, the efficiency of the full device relies on the type of electrolyte used. A good electrolyte is the one that, when used in Li-ion batteries, exhibits high Li+ diffusion between electrodes, the lowest resistance during cycling at the interfaces, a high capacity of retention, a very good cycle-life, high thermal stability, high specific capacitance, and high energy density. The impact of various polymer electrolytes and their components has been reported in this work, which helps to understand their effect on battery performance. Although, single-electrolyte material cannot be sufficient to fulfill the requirements of a good LIB. This review is aimed to lead toward an appropriate choice of polymer electrolyte for LIBs.