Advanced X-ray Shielding Materials Enabled by the Coordination of Well-Dispersed High Atomic Number Elements in Natural Leather

Nowadays, X-rays are playing increasingly important roles in daily life and industrial manufacture, which calls for effective and mobile shielding materials. However, it seems to be a paradox to prepare shielding materials simultaneously achieving excellent X-ray attenuation properties and superior mechanical strength. Here, an advanced leather-based X-ray shielding material containing bismuth and iodine (BiINP-LM) is prepared, and the stable and well-dispersed loading of high-Z element components is enabled by favorable interactions between bismuth iodide and leather, i.e., coordination, hydrogen bonds, and electrostatic attractions. A piece of BiINP-LM with 1.00 mm thickness displays an excellent X-ray attenuation efficiency of more than 90% in the photon energy range below 50 keV and 65% at 83 keV, which averagely exceeds ∼3% than that of the 0.25 mm lead plate and ∼5% than that of the 0.65 mm commercial lead apron. Additionally, the coordination between bismuth and leather provides an enhanced tensile and tear strength of ∼10-fold and 3-fold compared with the lead apron. It is worth mentioning that BiINP-LM also displays extra high water-vapor permeability, which is ∼50-fold more than the lead apron. Overall, this work opens up a new prospect for preparing advanced X-ray shielding materials with both excellent X-ray attenuation and outstanding physiomechanical performances.