An innovative nanocomposite material, denoted as ATCdNi, 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 (ATCdNi). 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/cm. The γ-rays shielding performance of the produced nanocomposites samples were evaluated by measuring some shielding parameters such as the mass attenuation coefficient (), half/tenth value layer (/), mean free path (MFP), and effective/equivalent atomic number (/)) 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 ATCdNi nanocomposite had the lowest , , and MFP values while displaying the highest among all samples. In contrast, the ATPbCd sample exhibited the highest FNRCS value. These findings strongly suggest that the clay-based ATCdNi nanocomposite sample possesses a remarkable capability to withstand gamma radiation.

中文翻译：

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探索含有插层纳米氧化镉和纳米氧化镍的凹凸棒石粘土复合材料在高效辐射屏蔽应用中的潜力


通过将凹凸棒石 (APL) 粘土与两种不同的纳米金属氧化物（CdO 和 NiO）以不同的比例混合，开发出了一种创新的纳米复合材料，称为 ATCdNi，作为屏蔽 γ 射线的有希望的替代品。材料的成分表示为40%APL + X%(CdO)+(60–X)%(NiO)，X值为15%、30%和45%。采用多种表征技术，包括 FT-IR、TGA、XRD、EDX 和 SEM，来分析 APL 和所生产的一种纳米复合材料 (ATCdNi)。 SEM 图像提供了 CdO 和 NiO 纳米颗粒成功嵌入凹凸棒石粘土层内的证据，同时使用 XRD 技术验证了所制备样品的无定形性质。所制备的纳米复合材料的堆积密度经测定在2.034±0.510至3.107±0.290g/cm3的范围内。通过测量一些屏蔽参数来评估所生产的纳米复合材料样品的γ射线屏蔽性能，例如质量衰减系数（）、半/十分之一值层（/）、平均自由程（MFP）和有效/等效原子序数（ /)) 通过使用 GEANT4 模拟和 Phy-X 代码。该分析是在 0.015–15 MeV 的指定光子能量范围内进行的，同时确定了中子能量高达 12 MeV 的快中子去除截面 (FNRCS)。结果表明，ATCdNi 纳米复合材料的 、 和 MFP 值最低，而在所有样品中显示最高。相反，ATPbCd 样品表现出最高的 FNRCS 值。这些发现强烈表明，粘土基 ATCdNi 纳米复合材料样品具有卓越的抵抗伽马辐射的能力。