Engineering 2D Bi₂WO₆ reinforced P(VDF-TrFE) nanocomposites for enhanced electronic stopping power and radiation efficiency

Growing environmental concerns and the increasing restrictions on toxic heavy–metal–based shielding materials have accelerated the development of sustainable lead-free materials. In this study Bi₂WO₆ nanosheets were incorporated into a P(VDF-TrFE) copolymer at different weight percentages (wt%) ranging from 1 to 10 wt% to fabricate P(VDF-TrFE)-Bi₂WO₆ flexible composite system with enhanced functional performance. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy were used to confirm the crystalline structure and vibrational modes of P(VDF-TrFE)-Bi₂WO₆ nanocomposite. The microstructure analysis confirms that the Bi₂WO₆ nanosheets were well dispersed in the P(VDF-TrFE) host. Introducing the Bi 2 WO 6 sheet in P(VDF-TrFE) host strengthens the electrical response, reducing bulk plasmon energy from 24.72 to 21.5 eV and increasing mean excitation energy from 120.7 to 221 eV, increases stopping power, and slows down charge particles, with the smallest projected range PR to absorb protons and 3 Li ions, notably at 10 wt% based on SRIM computations. Photon shielding performance was quantified for all polymer composites by simulating the linear attenuation coefficient ( μ ) over 0.015 MeV – 15 MeV energy range using Geant4 MC toolkit. The results are then compared with theoretical data computed through Phy-X/PSD software. Excellent agreement was achieved across the full energy range, with average percentage differences Δ % ‾ of 0.209% to 0.566%, and a Goodness-of-Fit ( χ 2 ) of 5.81 × 10 -5 to 4.35 × 10 -2 confirming that the Geant4 setup reproduces the theoretical μ values with high fidelity.