Study of electrospun PVA-based concentrations nanofibre filled with Bi2O3 or WO3 as potential x-ray shielding material

Electrospun PVA/Bi2O3 and PVA/WO3 nanofibre mats with different concentrations of PVA (10 w/w% or 15 w/w%) and variable wt% (0-40 wt%) of filler loading (Bi2O3 and WO3) were successfully fabricated. The x-ray shielding criteria such as density, thickness and mass attenuation coefficient (mu(m)) of the fabricated electrospun samples were studied to investigate their performance as a potential x-ray shielding material. The surface morphology and the dispersion of nanoparticles within PVA nanofibres were observed using SEM unit. The x-ray attenuation ability of the prepared samples was determined by using XRF unit at various x-ray energies (8.64-57.53 keV). Results revealed that the electrospun of 15 w/w% PVA with 35 wt% Bi2O3 loading showed the highest value of mu(m) at all the x-ray energies compared to the other electrospun samples. Meanwhile, for similar PVA concentration, the electrospun sample with WO3 filler showed the lowest mu(m) compared to the Bi2O3 filler. The smaller number of fibre diameter, less number of agglomeration and bead formations occurred within all the samples were observed. Thus, from the study, 15PVA with 35 wt% Bi2O3 loading was chosen as the best potential of the x-ray attenuation shielding material candidate for the x-ray shielding applications due to its superior characteristics.