Impact of Growth Temperature of Lead-Oxide Nanostructures on the Attenuation of Gamma Radiation

Raghad Y Mohammed; Furman Kasseem Ahmed; Ahmed Fattah Abdulrahman; Samir Mustafa Hamad; Sabah M Ahmed; Azeez Abdullah Barzinjy; Munirah Abdullah Almessiere

doi:10.1021/acsomega.3c02910

Impact of Growth Temperature of Lead-Oxide Nanostructures on the Attenuation of Gamma Radiation

ACS Omega. 2023 Jun 8;8(24):22230-22237. doi: 10.1021/acsomega.3c02910. eCollection 2023 Jun 20.

Authors

Raghad Y Mohammed¹, Furman Kasseem Ahmed², Ahmed Fattah Abdulrahman^{3

4}, Samir Mustafa Hamad⁵, Sabah M Ahmed¹, Azeez Abdullah Barzinjy⁵, Munirah Abdullah Almessiere^{6

7}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Physics, College of Science, University of Duhok, 42001 Duhok, Kurdistan Region, Iraq.
² Physiotherapy Department, Hawler Medical University/College of Health Science, 44001 Erbil, Kurdistan Region, Iraq.
³ Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, University of Zakho, 42002 Zakho, Kurdistan Region, Iraq.
⁴ Department of Computer and Communications Engineering, College of Engineering, Nawroz University, 42001 Duhok, Kurdistan Region, Iraq.
⁵ Scientific Research Center, Soran University, Soran, 44008 Erbil, Iraq.
⁶ Department of Physics, College of Science, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, P.O. Box 1982, 31441 Dammam, Saudi Arabia.
⁷ Department of Biophysics, Institute for Research and Medical Consultation (IRMC), Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, P.O. Box 1982, 31441 Dammam, Saudi Arabia.

Abstract

Chemical bath deposition (CBD) technique is utilized to grow lead-oxide (PbO) nanostructures (NSs) over PbO seed fabricated by physical vapor deposition (PVD) method on glass substrates. The effect of growth temperatures 50 and 70 °C on the surface topography, optical properties, and crystal structure of lead-oxide NSs has been studied. The investigated results suggested that the growth temperature has a huge and very considerable influence on the PbO NS, and the fabricated PbO NS has been indexed as the Pb₃O₄ polycrystalline tetragonal phase. The crystal size for PbO thin films grown at 50 °C was 85.688 nm and increased to 96.61 nm once the growth temperature reached 70 °C. The fabricated PbO nanofilms show a high rate of transmittance, which are ∼70 and 75% in the visible spectrum for the films deposited at 50 and 70 °C, respectively. The obtained E_g was in the range of 2.099-2.288 eV. Also, the linear attenuation coefficient values of gamma-rays for shielding the Cs-137 radioactive source increased at 50 °C. The transmission factor, mean free path, and half-value layer are reduced at a higher attenuation coefficient of PbO grown at 50 °C. This study evaluates the relationship between synthesized lead-oxide NSs and the radiation energy attenuation of gamma-rays. This study provided a suitable, novel, and flexible protective shield of clothes or an apron made of lead or lead oxide to protect against ionizing radiation that meets safety rules and protects medical workers from ionizing radiation.