Abstract
The fabrication of Nano-based shielding materials is an advancing research area in material sciences and nanotechnology. Although bulky lead-based products remain the primary choice for radiation protection, environmental disadvantages and high toxicity limit their potentials, necessitating less costly, compatible, eco-friendly, and light-weight alternatives. The theme of the presented investigation is to compare the ionization radiation shielding potentialities of the lead acetate (LA), lead nitrate (LN), and bismuth nitrate (BN)-doped zinc oxide nanorods-based thin films (ZONRs-TFs) produced via the chemical bath deposition (CBD) technique. The impact of the selected materials’ doping content on morphological and structural properties of ZONRs-TF was investigated. The X-ray diffractometer (XRD) analyses of both undoped and doped TFs revealed the existence of hexagonal quartzite crystal structures. The composition analysis by energy dispersive (EDX) detected the corrected elemental compositions of the deposited films. Field emission scanning electronic microscope (FESEM) images of the TFs showed highly porous and irregular surface morphologies of the randomly aligned NRs with cracks and voids. The undoped and 2 wt.% BN-doped TFs showed the smallest and largest grain size of 10.44 nm and 38.98 nm, respectively. The linear attenuation coefficient (µ) values of all the optimally doped ZONRs-TFs measured against the X-ray photon irradiation disclosed their excrement shielding potency. The measured µ values of the ZONRs-TFs displayed the trend of 1 wt.% LA-doped TF > 1 wt.% LN-doped TF > 3 wt.% BN-doped TF > undoped TFs). The values of μ of the ZONRs-TFs can be customized by adjusting the doping contents, which in turn controls the thickness and morphology of the TFs. In short, the proposed new types of the LA-, LN- and BN-doped ZONRs-TFs may contribute towards the development of the prospective ionization radiation shielding materials.
Highlights
Various ionizing radiations from different sources are responsible for the elevated risk of multiple types of cancers in humans worldwide [1,2,3]
The findings showed the feasibility of customizing the ionization radiation shielding potential of the proposed Zinc oxide Nano-rods thin films (ZONRs-TFs) by tuning the doping contents of lead acetate (LA), lead nitrate (LN), and bismuth nitrate (BN)
The proposed new types of the LA, LN, and BN-doped ZONRs-TFs may contribute to developing the prospective ionization radiation shielding materials
Summary
Various ionizing radiations from different sources are responsible for the elevated risk of multiple types of cancers in humans worldwide [1,2,3]. Various composite materials were proposed as effective absorbers and attenuators for the X-ray and Gamma-ray irradiation [9,10] These shielding materials must have the capacity to attenuate the ionizing radiations passing through them thoroughly, thereby minimizing the risk of exposure to workers and people around. Vagheian et al employed Monte–Carlo computational and experimental methods to investigate the X-ray shielding properties of bulk and nanostructured thin lead films. In this case, lead samples of different thicknesses; 10, 100, and 1000 nm were fabricated using Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD) technique. The results demonstrated better attenuation potential for nanostructured lead thin films compared to that of bulk-structured samples. Similar behavior was observed at the X-ray energy of 14 keV
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