Synthesis of novel MgO@WO3 nanocomposite material for assessing their photon shielding features: an experimental and Monte Carlo method

Recently, due to the terrible effects of nuclear radiations, protecting the environment and human life from them have been a vital issue for the researchers. In this paper, W0, W5, W10, and W15 samples of MgO@WO 3 composites were fabricated utilizing an auto-combustion sol-gel method. The structure of the prepared samples was evaluated using the XRD and SEM tests. An experimental method, the simulation (via the Monte Carlo codes of GEANT4 and MCNP) and theoretical (via the XCOM online program) approach were applied for assessing the shielding properties of the samples against photons with the energy of 662 keV ( 137 Cs source) via computing the MAC, LAC, HVL, TVL, MFP, Z eff , N eff , and LET parameters. The experimental, GEANT4, MCNP, and XCOM LAC results of the W0, W5, W10, and W15 samples were (0.0794 ± 0.0122, 0.0773, 0.0782, and 0.0773 cm − 1 ), (0.0937 ± 0.0009, 0.0923, 0.0900, and 0.0924 cm − 1 ), (0.1009 ± 0.0002, 0.0988, 0.0965, and 0.0990 cm − 1 ), and (0.1047 ± 0.0014, 0.1045, 0.1018, and 0.1047 cm − 1 ), respectively (with the maximum difference of 5%). The obtained results depicted that the LAC values rose with increasing the density of the samples. Therefore, W15 was selected to be the best shield material against photons among the other samples. Due to their suitable features of non-toxicity, biocompatibility, and chemical stability, MgO particles and their nanocomposites can be favorable as photon shield for medical and nuclear research purposes.