The influence of zinc oxide on the glass structure and radiation shielding features of a ZnO-Fe2O3-Na2O-B2O3 glass host was investigated. The density increased from 2.211 \({\text{g}/\text{cm}}^{3}\) to 2.882 \({\text{g}/\text{cm}}^{3}\) (increase of ∼ 30%) when the zinc oxide content was increased from 0 mol.% to 30 mol.%. The results showed that the tetrahedral coordination boron ratio ( \({N}_{4}\) ) increased from 45.65% to 47.73% with an increase in zinc oxide from 0 mol.% to 30 mol.%, which indicated a structural conversion from trigonal coordination of boron atoms ( \({\text{BO}}_{3}\) ) to tetrahedral coordination ( \({\text{BO}}_{4}\) ) due to the zinc oxide addition. In addition, the effect of ZnO addition on the radiation shielding features was determined based on the linear attenuation coefficient, half-value layer, and effective atomic number. The results showed that the linear attenuation coefficient of the glasses increased due to the addition of ZnO to the glass matrix. The results for the half-value layer also support the increased radiation shielding efficiency with further addition of ZnO to the glass matrix. Finally, the sample containing the highest ZnO content in the glass matrix was found to be the best candidate for gamma radiation shielding.
