Periodic Reporting for period 2 - NASCAR (NAno SCintillator ARrays (NASCAR) as a Novel Nuclear Detection Material)
Okres sprawozdawczy: 2023-12-15 do 2024-12-14
The results in this work demonstrated that the low temperature hydrothermal method is a simple and effective way of fabricating vertically well-aligned ZnO NRs which are well-suited for high scintillation properties. Donor doping of ZnO nanorod arrays along with optimization of additive concentrations in the solution resulted in enhanced UV emission properties. The optimized scintillator design improved thermal neutron response of the ZnO:Li nanorod arrays. Together with the superior scintillation properties including sub-nanosecond decay time, these results indicate that ZnO nano scintillators could be a good candidate for fast alpha particle scintillator screens.
Vertically well-aligned tapered ZnO NR arrays with enhanced light absorption and optical coupling were grown in this project. The novel design of this ZnO NR arrays led to improved structural, optical, and scintillation properties.The alpha particle response obtained in thermal neutron measurements is a milestone in the project and constitutes first time measurements in the literature to the best of our knowledge. The optimized scintillator design resulted in improved thermal neutron response of the ZnO:Li NR arrays, which is a breakthrough in the literature as the thermal neutron detection properties have not been reported for hydrothermally grown ZnO:Li NR arrays yet. Results of the project were presented in an international conference and in a seminar at the host institution, and also were published in a SCI indexed journal. The researcher was involved in external collaborations and this collaboration resulted in publication of an article in a SCI indexed journal as well. The latest results of the project were submitted in a journal, which is in process.