Physical and nuclear shielding properties of newly synthesized magnesium oxide and zinc oxide nanoparticles

Magnesium oxide (MgO) and Zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles (NPs) have been successfully synthesized by solid–solid reaction method. The structural properties of ZnO and MgO NPs were studied using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). XRD results indicated a formation of pure MgO and ZnO NPs. The mean diameter values of the agglomerated particles were around to be 70 and 50 nm for MgO and ZnO NPs, respectively using SEM analysis. Further, a wide-range of nuclear radiation shielding investigation for gamma-ray and fast neutrons have been studied for Magnesium oxide (MgO) and Zinc oxide (ZnO) samples. FLUKA and Microshield codes have been employed for the determination of mass attenuation coefficients (μm) and transmission factors (TF) of Magnesium oxide (MgO) and Zinc oxide (ZnO) samples. The calculated values for mass attenuation coefficients (μm) were utilized to determine other vital shielding properties against gamma-ray radiation. Moreover, the results showed that Zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles with the lowest diameter value as 50 nm had a satisfactory capacity in nuclear radiation shielding. © 2020 Korean Nuclear Societ