Fluoride Nanoscintillators

Abstract EN

A preliminary investigation of the scintillation response of rare earth-doped fluoride nanoparticles is reported.

Nanoparticles of CaF2 : Eu, BaF2 : Ce, and LaF3 : Eu were produced by precipitation methods using ammonium di-n-octadecyldithiophosphate (ADDP) as a ligand that controls growth and lessens agglomeration.

The structure and morphology were characterized by means of X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy, while the scintillation properties of the nanoparticles were determined by means of X-ray and 241Am irradiation.

The unique aspect of scintillation of nanoparticles is related to the migration of carriers in the nanoscintillator.

Our results showed that even nanoparticles as small as ~4 nm in size effectively scintillate, despite the diffusion length of e-h pairs being considerably larger than the nanoparticles themselves, and suggest that nanoparticles can be used for radiation detection.