| Autor: |
Giuliani C; TERIN-DEC-ACEL Laboratory, ENEA-Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development, Via Anguillarese 301, 00123 Rome, Italy., De Stefano I; Division of Biotechnologies (SSPT-BIOTEC), ENEA-Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development, Via Anguillarese 301, 00123 Rome, Italy., Mancuso M; Division of Biotechnologies (SSPT-BIOTEC), ENEA-Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development, Via Anguillarese 301, 00123 Rome, Italy., Fiaschini N; NANOFABER S.r.l., 00123 Rome, Italy., Hein LA; NANOFABER S.r.l., 00123 Rome, Italy., Mirabile Gattia D; SSPT-TIMAF-MADD Laboratory, ENEA-Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development, Via Anguillarese 301, 00123 Rome, Italy., Scatena E; E. Amaldi Foundation, Via del Politecnico snc, 00133 Rome, Italy., Zenobi E; E. Amaldi Foundation, Via del Politecnico snc, 00133 Rome, Italy., Del Gaudio C; Italian Space Agency, Via del Politecnico snc, 00133 Rome, Italy., Galante F; S.I.T. Sordina IORT Technology S.p.A., 04011 Aprilia, Italy., Felici G; S.I.T. Sordina IORT Technology S.p.A., 04011 Aprilia, Italy., Rinaldi A; TERIN-DEC-ACEL Laboratory, ENEA-Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development, Via Anguillarese 301, 00123 Rome, Italy. |
| Abstrakt: |
Exposure to high levels of radiation can cause acute, long-term health effects, such as acute radiation syndrome, cancer, and cardiovascular disease. This is an important occupational hazard in different fields, such as the aerospace and healthcare industry, as well as a crucial burden to overcome to boost space applications and exploration. Protective bulky equipment made of heavy metals is not suitable for many advanced purporses, such as mobile devices, wearable shields, and manned spacecrafts. In the latter case, the in-space manufacturing of protective shields is highly desirable and remains an unmet need. Composites made of polymers and high atomic number fillers are potential means for radiation protection due to their low weight, good flexibility, and good processability. In the present work, we developed electrospun composites based on polycaprolactone (polymer matrix) and tungsten powder for application as shielding materials. Electrospinning is a versatile technology that is easily scalable at an industrial level and allows obtaining very lightweight, flexible sheet materials for wearables. By controlling tungsten powder size, we engineered homogeneous, stable and processable suspensions to fabricate radiation composite shielding sheets. The shielding capability was assessed by an in vivo model on prototype composite sheets containing 80 w% of W filler in a polycaprolactone (PCL) fibrous matrix by means of irradiation tests (X-rays) on mice. The obtained results are promising; as expected, the shielding effectivity of the developed composite material increases with the thickness/number of stacked layers. It is worth noting that a thin barrier consisting of 24 layers of the innovative shielding material reduces the extent of apoptosis by 1.5 times compared to the non-shielded mice. |
