Dielectric properties and radiation shielding performance of PVA/CMC/PVP blended polymer loaded with Cu doped non-stoichiometric nano zinc sulfide and their potential for storage energy and radiation shielding applications

The objective of this study is to synthesize PVA/CMC/PVP/ZnS_1-xCu_x blended polymers and analyses their dielectric and radiation shielding properties to be used in energy storage and radiation protection applications. The undoped and doped PVA/CMC/PVP blended polymers with nano ZnS_1-xCu_x were synthesized utilizing casting and solid-state techniques. The precise identification and quantification of the produced phases in ZnS_1-xCu_x samples were identified using Rietveld analysis for the X-ray diffraction technique. The impact of the filler samples on the structure and morphology of the host PVA/CMC/PVP polymer blend was evaluated. The ε′ reached its maximum values in the blend with Cu = 1% across the whole frequency spectrum. In the low frequency range, the values of ε′′ reached their peak when the Cu content was 10% in the blend, however beyond this range, the blend with 1 wt% Cu exhibited the highest values. Doped blend with Cu = 3% displayed the maximum energy density value while doped blend with 10% Cu has maximum ac conductivity. The addition of nano ZnS_1-xCu_x affected the host blended polymer capacitance. The impact of Cu amount in the ZnS_1-xCu_x filler samples on the linear attenuation coefficients (LAC), mean free path (MFP), mass attenuation coefficient (MAC), half value layer (HVL), tenth value layer (TVL), effective electron density (N_eff), effective conductivity (C_eff), and buildup factor parameters of the host blended polymer was explored. The fast neutron removal cross-section (FNRCS) value of the host blend improved after loading with nano ZnS_1-xCu_x.