Exploring the potential of attapulgite clay composites containing intercalated nano-cadmium oxide and nano-nickel oxide for efficient radiation shielding applications

An innovative nanocomposite material, denoted as AT40CdXNi60-X, has been developed by incorporating attapulgite (APL) clay with two different nanometal oxides, CdO and NiO, at varying proportions to serve as promising alternatives for shielding against γ-rays. The composition of the material is represented as 40%APL + X%(CdO)+(60–X)%(NiO), with X values of 15%, 30%, and 45%. Several characterization techniques, including FT-IR, T-G-A, X-R-D, E-D-X, and S-E-M, were employed to analyze APL and one of the produced nanocomposites (AT40Cd30Ni30). The S-E-M images provided evidence of the successful intercalation of CdO and NiO nanoparticles within the attapulgite clay layers, while the amorphous nature of the prepared samples was verified using the X-R-D technique. The bulk densities of the nanocomposites prepared were determined to be within the range of 2.034 ± 0.510 to 3.107 ± 0.290 g/cm3. The γ-rays shielding performance of the produced nanocomposites samples were evaluated by measuring some shielding parameters such as the mass attenuation coefficient (μm), half/tenth value layer (T1/2/T1/10), mean free path (MFP), and effective/equivalent atomic number (Zeff/Zeq)) through the use of GEANT4 simulation and Phy-X code. This analysis was conducted within the specified photon energy range of 0.015–15 MeV, along with determining the removal cross-section for fast neutrons (FNRCS) for neutron energies up to 12 MeV. Results revealed that the AT40Cd45Ni15 nanocomposite had the lowest T1/2, T1/10, and MFP values while displaying the highest μm among all samples. In contrast, the AT40Pb30Cd30 sample exhibited the highest FNRCS value. These findings strongly suggest that the clay-based AT40Cd45Ni15 nanocomposite sample possesses a remarkable capability to withstand gamma radiation.