Soft x-ray shielding characteristics of natural wood films with varying densities evaluated using a Ga2O3 Schottky diode detector

Abstract

This study evaluates the x-ray shielding effectiveness of natural wood films with different densities using a Ga2O3-based Schottky barrier diode detector. Photocurrent suppression, as an indicator of shielding performance, is systematically correlated with wood density through both database-modeled attenuation data and experimental results under continuous soft x-ray exposure. The results demonstrate that higher-density wood samples exhibit markedly enhanced shielding efficiency, approaching that of lightweight metallic and polymeric materials in the 1–20 keV soft x-ray range. Temperature-dependent measurements further reveal that the shielding performance of the wood films decreases with increasing temperature, likely due to thermal degradation of the material. Despite this, high-density wood films maintain shielding efficiencies exceeding 85% up to 423 K, highlighting their potential as lightweight, eco-friendly, and thermally resilient secondary shielding materials for aerospace and high-altitude applications.