Multiscale Characterization and Optical and Radiation Absorption Behavior of Hybrid Nanocomposites for Advanced Applications

Nanocomposites are advanced materials used experimentally in various applications, such as optical and industrial, and recently in radiation attenuation. This research aims to fabricate polycaprolactone/polyethyleneimine (PCL/PEI) blend polymer hybrid nanocomposites loaded with silicon dioxide (SiO2) and graphene oxide (GO) nanomaterials to improve their performance and properties. The solvent casting method, assisted by sonication, was employed to create four samples: BP, NCP1, NCP2, and NCP3, which were cast in Petri dishes. Structural characterization was conducted using X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, optical microscopy, and field-emission scanning electron microscopy. The nanocomposites exhibited enhanced structural homogeneity and increased crystallinity due to the addition of both SiO2@GO nanoparticles in NCP3 rather than a blend polymer or reinforcement with a single nanomaterial. The NCP3 sample exhibited notable enhancements in the most favourable results, including optical conductivity, dielectric constants, refractive index increase (36.5%), and extinction coefficient (42.1%) compared to the blend polymer. Furthermore, the real and imaginary dielectric constants showed improvements of 48.7% and 55.3%, respectively. The attenuation coefficients (µ) increased by 71.8% compared to the blend polymer, which was computed using a caesium-137 (662 keV) source. Furthermore, the measurements confirmed a significant improvement in radiation attenuation, indicating a synergistic effect between the nanofillers. Combined nanomaterials (SiO2-GO) demonstrated superior performance compared to a single nanomaterial, rendering them an exceptional candidate for various advanced applications, particularly in light shielding or sanitary landfill of radioactive materials using lightweight concrete. HIGHLIGHTS GO samples revealed better optical, dielectric and conductivity than SiO2 GO samples exposed better attention to the radiation than samples reinforced with SiO2. Nanocomposites fabricated expose promising findings for optical filtering and light-shielding. Hybrid nanomaterials SiO2-GO exhibited better findings than using GO or SiO2 as a single nanomaterial. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT