Structure, fluorescence and radiation shielding characteristics of PVAPVP- PEG/ZnCo2O4 polymer nanocomposites

Journal Article

2025

Published in: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-025-08949-2

Nanocomposites films of ZnCo2O4 loaded polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)/polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP)/ polyethylene glycol (PEG) blended polymer were synthesized as future nanocomposite films to use in promising optoelectronics and radiation shielding applications. The structure and/or the morphology of the blended polymers were investigated employingX-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy techniques. The developed blends are proposed for optoelectronic and photocatalytic applications. The chromaticity diagrams based on the CIE 1931 color space, shown that all samples emitted a blue color, with varying intensity contingent upon the dopant quantities and excitation wavelength. The doped blended polymer containing 5 wt% ZCO has the lowest half-value layer (HVL) value compared to other blended polymers. The effect of ZCO doping amount on the linear attenuation coefficient (LAC), mass-attenuation coefficient (MAC),mean free path (MFP), effective atomic number (Zeff) and equivalent atomic number (Zeq) were explored. The LAC values at 15 keV for all blended polymers demonstrated a considerable rise with higher doses of ZCO doping: 1.298, 1.444, 1.635 and 1.836 cm−1 for blends with x = 0, 1, 3, and 5, respectively. As the energy increased, the drop in the LAC value diminished. The MAC values of all polymers were significantly elevated at the smallest possible energy of 0.015 MeV, with blended polymers exhibiting MAC values of 1.095, 1.169, 1.225, and 1.281 cm2/g for x = 0, 1, 3, and 5 respectively. At 0.3 MeV the HVL values for the blended polymers with x values of 0, 1, 3, and 5 are 5.0404, 4.82411, 4.46543, and 4.15644 cm, respectively. The MFP values of the same samples are 7.272, 6.959, 6.442, and 5.996 cm, respectively. At about 600 keV, our PVA/PVP/PEG/5 wt % ZCO blended polymer demonstrated MAC value of 0.08785 cm2/g, surpassing the values of other reported polymer nanocomposites. Doped blends have the highest fast neutron removal cross-section (FNRCS) values relative to the undoped blended polymer. The Exposure Buildup Factor (EBF) and the Energy Absorption
Buildup Factor (EABF) values of the doped polymers diminished with the incorporation of ZCO. The study indicates that synthetic composites may be effective in shielding against gamma radiation in nuclear medicine, radiotherapy, industrial applications, and space exploration.

• Publisher Name: Applied Physics A (2025) 131:793