A facile route to prepare lead borate crystals for jointly shielding neutron and gamma rays

Abstract Fabricating a material to jointly shield complex radiations is of great significance to the increasing development of nuclear technology. Here, a lead borate single crystal is facilely prepared through a typical precipitation method. Its structure and morphology has been determined with XRD, SEM, TEM, FT-IR and TGA techniques. The lead borate crystal exhibits good crystallinity, uniform size and shape. What is more, it has hydroxyl groups and excellent thermal stability that contribute to further blending with polymer matrices for final products. Importantly, the lead borate displays a joint shielding ability of neutron and gamma rays, which can be used for shielding complex radiations.