Evaluation of experimental and simulated gamma ray shielding ability of ZnCo2O4 and ZnCo2O4/graphene nanoparticles

Pristine zinc cobaltite (ZnCo2O4) and graphene zinc cobaltite nanoparticles (NPs) have been successfully synthesized by hydrothermal method. The physical properties of both structures were studied using field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). XRD results indicated a formation of spinel structure. The elemental composition of the samples has been determined through EDX analysis. From morphological investigation, the aggregation of grains and nano-sized quasi-spherical grains was observed. Nuclear radiation protection investigation for gamma-ray has been studied for both samples. The protection factors against gamma rays, including linear attenuation coefficients (LAC), mass attenuation coefficients (MAC), transmission Factor (TF), radiation protection efficiency (RPE) mean free path (MFP), half value layer (HVL) and tenth value layer (TVL) were calculated. In addition to the experimental examination, simulation with GEANT4 simulation code was also used for both samples to examine the shielding parameters. The most essential parameters of gamma shielding factors such as mass attenuation coefficients (MAC), mean free path (MFP), half value layer (HVL), tenth value layer (TVL) and linear attenuation coefficients (LAC) were evaluated both practically and by simulation. Practically, these values were: 0.75/0.78 cm2/g, 0.22/0.20 cm, 0.15/0.14 cm, 0.50/0.47 cm, and 4.55/4.86 cm−1, for ZnCo2O4 and ZnCo2O4/graphene samples, respectively. By simulation, these values were: 0.65/0.70 cm2/g, 0.25/0.22 cm, 0.17/0.16 cm, 0.59/0.52 cm, and 3.91/4.38 cm−1, for ZnCo2O4 and ZnCo2O4/graphene samples, respectively. The results show that the presence of graphene has affected all the protection parameters. Keywords: Zinc cobaltite, structural properties, gamma shielding, hydrothermal method.