Structural, electrical and radiation shielding properties of polyvinyl alcohol doped with different nanoparticles

Abstract

Both pure and doped polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) with 1 wt% of Ni, NiO and Fe2O3 nanoparticles (NPs) were prepared using the casting method. The structural and electrical properties of the composite were extensively studied. Moreover, the radiation shielding of these composites was studied. XRD results prove the semi-crystalline structure of pure PVA because of crystalline and amorphous phases are appeared. The electrical conductivity (σdc) and current–voltage (I–V) characterization for all PVA samples have been an investigation. The separation (R) and energy of hopping (W) were calculated. Also, the temperature dependence of the conductivity for all pure samples was investigated using Mott’s variable-range hopping model. The obtained results suggest strongly the applicability of these samples in the electronic applications. Furthermore, radiation shielding parameters have been calculated. Results show that PVA with 1% Ni sample has the highest values of mass attenuation coefficient, effective atomic number, fast neutrons removal cross-sections and absorption neutron scattering cross-section among other samples.