Abstract
Detection of special nuclear materials (SNMs) is of vital importance in the prevention of nuclear terrorism and to secure states’ national security. Neutron detection is a particularly useful tool to identify SNM, and neutron-sensitive scintillators have many promising properties, such as ease of use, good time resolution, and high detection efficiency. In this work, we develop highly stable, self-oriented, ultrafast 1D ZnO:Li (and codoped with Al, Ga, and In) nanorods (NRs) as thermal neutron-sensitive scintillators. Lithium-6 has high thermal neutron cross section for the (n, α) reaction in ZnO:Li scintillators which have a vertical nano array design greatly increasing the effective surface area and scintillation efficiency. Cost-effective low-temperature (95 °C) hydrothermal growth is used to obtain highly crystalline ZnO:Li nano scintillators by combining nuclear range data and electron transport mechanisms. Among the studies using low-temperature hydrothermal synthesis and a relatively low annealing temperature (≈350 °C) along with optimized NRs (length ≈ 5–8 μm, mean diameter ≈ 700 nm) for thermal neutron detection, this study reports the shortest scintillation decay time (≈ 470 ps) so far to the best of our knowledge. This nano array scintillator combines the advantages of a low-cost growth technique with environmentally friendly and widely available materials.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 20697-20712 |
| Number of pages | 16 |
| Journal | ACS Applied Nano Materials |
| Volume | 8 |
| Issue number | 43 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Oct 31 2025 |
Funding
The CL microscopic measurements were supported by the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences (CNMS), a US Department of Energy, Office of Science User Facility at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Portions of the measurements were performed at the Georgia Tech Institute for Matter and Systems, a member of the National Nanotechnology Coordinated Infrastructure (NNCI), which is supported by the National Science Foundation (ECCS-2025462). The CL microscopic measurements were supported by the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences (CNMS), a US Department of Energy, Office of Science User Facility at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Portions of the measurements were performed at the Georgia Tech Institute for Matter and Systems, a member of the National Nanotechnology Coordinated Infrastructure (NNCI), which is supported by the National Science Foundation (ECCS-2025462). This paper is a part of the dissemination activities of the project NASCAR. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 101026555. This paper is a part of the dissemination activities of the project NASCAR. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 101026555.
Keywords
- ZnO nanorods
- alpha particles
- hydrothermal synthesis
- photoluminescence
- thermal neutrons
- ultrafast scintillators