Novel and simple synthesis of a lighter technologic cloth with lead dioxide: Application in X-ray shielding

Full text: The radiation X is used in health area as a photographic marker to body parts analysis. However, these analyzes can lead to severe health problems. Many studies have been focused on the development of individual protect equipment (IPE) constituted by materials able to attenuate or even stop this radiation. Atoms with high atomic number (Z) have the property of attenuating the photon flux, like lead (Pb), tungsten (W) and bismuth (Bi). Currently, the most widely used personal protective equipment is the apron lead rubber, which is very effective in shielding X ray. However, these aprons have relatively high weight, limiting the mobility and causing discomfort to the wearer. S. Nambiar et. al. (2013), fabricated a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) nanocomposite with different concentration of bismuth oxide, which have proven effective in radiation shielding. In that work, the authors state that the materials do not exhibit toxicity and are easy to synthesize, but, due to the low bismuth abundance in earth crust (9.10^-7 % wt according to A. A. Yaroshevsky, 2006), the final material present a high added cost. Thus, the present work aims the development of a low cost lighter technological cloth covered with lead oxide, that has an optimized radiation X shielding property for medical applications. Cotton cloth was used for the treatment with H₃PO₄/HNO₃ 1:2 0,1 mol L^-1. After, the cloth was immersed in a Pb(NO₃)₂ solution. Using a peristaltic pump (11 rpm), NaOH solution was add. Then, the cloth with Pb(OH)₂ was dried at room temperature and oxidised by K₂S₂O₈ solution using the dripping method. The X ray diffraction (XRD) presented the cotton peaks and lead dioxide peaks, but, apparently, the synthesized PbO₂ that is covering the fiber must exists as a mixture of different phases. The Electro Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS) mapping, showed the lead dioxide covering the fiber cotton. Visually, cloth with lead dioxide attenuated the X rays from clinical equipment. (author)