Feasibility of nanomaterial tungsten carbide as lead-free nanomaterial-based radiation shielding

Abstract

Radiation shielding material is essential to protect humans and the environment from direct exposure to ionizing radiation. The ionizing radiation is best absorbed by high-density materials and heavy atoms like lead. The drawback of lead is that it is toxic, heavy, non-transparent, and bulky, which are often undesirable features for most applications. As a result, while the development of nanomaterials as radiation shielding materials is a promising field of study, a complete evaluation of the application of tungsten carbide nanofilm as a lead-free shielding material is still lacking in the literature. Tungsten carbide is an attractive material because it can be formed into a film using various fabrication processes suitable for a wide range of substrates. Moreover, tungsten carbide has a high atomic number, greater density, and better shielding characteristics compared to lead. Therefore, the purpose of this review was to provide recent advancements in the physical properties of tungsten carbide, the application of tungsten carbide nanofilm as radiation shielding material, and an overview of thin film deposition and deposition techniques that include the morphological structure of tungsten carbide nanofilm. The key challenges and future direction are also discussed.