The current study aims to develop a polymer nanocomposite of ZrO₂/SiC (ZOSC) incorporated in PVA-reduced graphene oxide (PVA-rGO) blend for applications in optical and X-ray shielding. The casting method was used to prepare PVA-rGO blend incorporated with different loadings of ZOSC nanocomposites (0 to 10%). The samples were examined by SEM, optical microscope, FT-IR, and UV-visible spectrophotometry techniques. The structural analysis confirms the interaction between the ZOSC NCs and the host PVA-rGO structure. UV-visible examinations reveal that the direct/indirect optical bandgap decreased with increasing ZOSC NCs loading. The optical transmittance, refractive index, optical conductivity, and dielectric parameters of the host PVA-rGO blend were enhanced with ZOSC NCs incorporation. The shielding parameters (mass attenuation coefficient (MAC), half-value length (HVL), tenth-value length (TVL), mean free path (MFP), effective atomic number (Z_eff.), radiation protection efficiency (RPE), and transmission factor (TF)) for all samples were investigated. At 0.02 MeV photon energy, the half-value length (HVL) and tenth-value length (TVL) reduced to 0.12946 cm and 0.43006 cm upon ZOSC incorporation compared to 0.48355 cm and 3.11118 cm for the pure PVA-rGO blend. The mean free path (MFP) reduced to 0.18677 cm for 10% of ZOSC NCs incorporation compared to 1.35117 cm for the pure blend. The effective atomic number (Z_eff.) value of the PVA-rGO blend increased from 5.20612 to 18.56291. The superior performance of X-ray shielding parameters of PVA-rGO blend is achieved for 10% of ZOSC NCs incorporation at 0.02 MeV photon energy. The accomplished functional properties of the ZrO₂/SiC NCs incorporated in the PVA-rGO blend nominate it for possible applications in optical and X-ray shielding.

Title

Physica B: Condensed Matter

Publisher

Elsevier

Publisher Country

United States of America

Indexing

Thomson Reuters

Impact Factor

2.8

Publication Type

Both (Printed and Online)

Volume

735

Year

2026

Pages

418677