Effect of WO3 nanoparticles on the radiative attenuation properties of SrTiO3 perovskite ceramic

Abstract

In the present work, an experimental study is performed to study the radiation shielding characteristics of SrTiO3 (STO) perovskite ceramic added with different amounts (x = 0, 2, 5, and 10%) of tungsten trioxide nanoparticles (WO3 NPs). The four ceramic samples were prepared using the solid-state reaction method. The structural properties were examined using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) techniques. The analysis showed the successful formation of WO3- doped STO samples. The crystallite size, estimated using the Scherrer equation, was found in the range of 50.86–41.17 nm. The effect of WO3 NPs on the radiation shielding performance of these ceramics was studied. Different parameters, such as linear attenuation coefficient (LAC) and other related factors, were experimentally determined. The linear attenuation coefficient results demonstrated that the additional amount of WO3 in the ceramics correlates with an improvement in their shielding abilities. The half-value layer (HVL) values for the ceramics with 2% WO3 nanoparticles are equal to 0.071, 1.760, 2.407, and 2.564 cm at 0.060, 0.662, 1.173, and 1.333 MeV, respectively. As the energy increases, more radiation can pass through the material, therefore, a larger thickness is required to absorb half of the total photons, leading to a greater HVL. The tenth value results reaffirmed that increasing the WO3 content in the STO ceramics improves their shielding efficiency. The radiation protection efficiency (RPE) of the four prepared STO ceramics was reported. From the RPE, we found that more photons can be attenuated at lower energies.