We report the influence of the codoping of Li and Co into ZnO on the structural and optical properties as well as on the antibacterial activity of ZnO nanostructures, synthesized via co-precipitation technique. Confirmed by X-ray diffraction (XRD), the prepared samples (ZnO, Li0.015Co0.015Zn0.97O and Li0.03Co0.03Zn0.94O) exhibit hexagonal wurtzite structures where inclusion of the dopants (Li and Co) into the Zno reduces the crystallite size from 16.43 ± 1.02 to 15.12 ± 1.02 nm. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) reveals the shape of the particles to be spherical while energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) confirms the elemental composition of the samples. The doping of the Li and Co reduces the oxygen content in the ZnO, significantly for Li0.015Co0.015Zn0.97O. Ultraviolet visible (UV-Vis) spectroscopy and photoluminescence (PL) determine a similar, approximately, band gap of the nanostructures. The emission intensity is found to be maximum for Li0.015Co0.015Zn0.97O in the visible range and an increased antibacterial activity is evidenced for Li0.03Co0.03Zn0.94O against pseudomonas aeruginosa.

We study the theoretical and simulated shielding properties of 69P₂O₅–10Gd₂O₃–10BaO–10ZnO–1Er₂O₃ and 69P₂O5–10GdF₃–10BaO–10ZnO-1Er₂O₃ glasses. We exploit advanced simulation (MCNPX) and Phy-X, an online Photon Shielding and Dosimetry software, in the 0.001–15 MeV energy range, to calculate the linear attenuation coefficient and mass attenuation coefficients of the samples. The obtained mass attenuation coefficient is then used to calculate the critical radiation shielding characteristics, such as the half-value layer, mean free path, tenth value layer, and effective atomic number. The calculated LAC values range from 108.759 to 0.097 and from 84.124 to 0.087 cm⁻¹ while HVL values range from 0.006 to 7.164 and from 0.008 to 8.013 cm, and MFP values vary from 0.009 to 10.335 and from 0.012 to 11.561 cm for ZBaOEr and ZBaFEr, respectively, with energy ranging from 0.015 to 15 MeV. We find that the results obtained from MCNPX and Phy-X are consistent with each other, based on the computed relative difference. The glass sample containing Gd₂O₃ exhibits better shielding properties than the one with GdF₃, over the entire energy range. Our examined glass samples are thick enough to substantially lessen the intensity of incident X-rays and gamma rays.