NiWO₄, Ni_0.9Co_0.1WO₄ and Ni_0.9C_r0.1WO₄ samples were formed via the hydrothermal process. The structural and microstructural parameters of the obtained samples were derived from the Rietveld refinement process. Upon doping, the average bond length and the volume of [NiO₆] octahedrons increased but reduced for [WO₆] octahedrons. Also, the [NiO₆] octahedrons became more symmetric where the distortion index reduced from 0.03489 to 0.01146 and 0.01066 for Cr and Co doped samples respectively. The alterations in vibrational dynamics could be elucidated by the competing interactions between Ni(Cr/Co)–O and W–O, which culminate in fluctuations of the W–O bond strength. Throughout the entire UV-Vis-NIR spectrum, a substantial enhancement in absorbance was observed upon doping, particularly within the visible spectrum, thereby elevating the suitability of the doped materials for photonic applications. The direct and indirect band gap energies determined for pristine NiWO₄ are 3.0 and 2.5 eV which dropped upon doping with Co or Cr to 2.8/1.8 eV and 2.82/1.8 eV, respectively. For the doped samples NiWO₄:0.1Co(Cr), the photoluminescence intensity is greatly reduced, and the emission spectra are blue shifted. The replacement of Ni by Co or Cr in NiWO₄ led to an enhancement in both linear attenuation coefficient (LAC) and mass attenuation coefficient (MAC) across the complete spectrum of photon energy. The samples NiWO₄, Ni_0.9Co_0.1WO₄ and Ni_0.9Cr_0.1WO₄ present the greatest mean free path (MFP) values of 3.353, 3.399, and 3.407 cm at 8, 5 and 5 MeV, respectively. The Co-doped sample demonstrated the highest effective atomic number (Z_eff) values. NiWO₄ demonstrates the ultimate fast neutron removal cross-section (FNRCS) value relative to the doped samples.

Title

Ceramics International

Publisher

Elsevier

Publisher Country

United States of America

Indexing

Thomson Reuters

Impact Factor

5.6

Publication Type

Prtinted only

Volume

52

Year

2026

Pages

27798-27807