ARI: Synthesizing Conjugated Polymers with High Scintillation Light Yield

ARI：合成高闪烁光产额的共轭聚合物

• 批准号: 1348403
• 负责人: Qibing Pei
• 金额: $ 17.72万
• 依托单位: University of California-Los Angeles
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2013
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2013-10-01 至 2014-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1348403&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: ARI; Synthesizing; Conjugated; Polymers; Scintillation

1348403 (Pei) Effective counter measures against potential radioactive and nuclear threats call for a wide-spread deployment of sensors with high-sensitivity isotopic identification of radiation sources. Detectors providing gamma ray spectroscopy and neutron and gamma discrimination are keys in nuclear sensing. This project aims to develop a new polymer scintillator that exhibits high sensitivity comparable to inorganic crystals while maintaining an extremely low production cost. The scintillators could be widely deployed at the nation?s ports and large public venues to deter security threats. Current radiation detectors are mostly based on single crystal inorganic semiconductors or scintillators, none of which satisfy the demanding requirements of high sensitivity, energy resolution, fieldability, and low cost. This proposal aims at developing a fundamental approach to the synthesis of conjugated polymer monoliths with scintillation performance comparable to inorganic single crystal scintillators. The monoliths can be synthesized by thermosetting polymerization in a mold at extremely low production cost. The research will investigate conjugated compounds and polymers with large triplet energy levels as the host material to transfer both singlet and triplet excitons to a blue phosphorescent fluor for high scintillation light yield. Copolymerization of molten solutions will be studied as an effective technique to synthesize bulk-size transparent monoliths with uniform distribution of additives and negligible aggregation. The objective of the project is to demonstrate transparent conjugated polymer monoliths with a target light yield of 100,000/MeV, an improvement of almost 10 times that of current commercial plastic scintillators. Sensitizing agents with high absorption cross-sections for neutron particles and gamma rays will also be investigated for high sensitivity and neutron-gamma pulse discrimination. The work is based on preliminary research on transparent polymer monoliths with a measured light yield that is already 4.6 times that of a commercial plastic scintillator. The proposed conjugated polymer scintillators with high scintillation light yield and low production cost will open up a wide range of new applications important to homeland security, medical imaging, and space exploration. The research findings will be rapidly disseminated, and the technology developed in the project is targeted to be transferred for rapid commercialization. The project will have impact on education and mentoring of students from high schools up to doctoral candidates. Education and training of undergraduate and graduate students with dual specialties of materials science and nuclear-material interactions is part of the project activities. Graduate students and postdoctoral fellows will have the opportunity to intern in the collaborating national labs to gain firsthand experience with radiation detection.

1348403（PEI）针对潜在的放射性和核威胁的有效反应措施要求对传感器进行广泛部署，这些传感器具有高度敏感的同位素识别辐射源。提供伽玛光谱法，中子和伽马歧视的探测器是核传感的钥匙。该项目旨在开发一种新的聚合物闪烁体，该闪烁体具有与无机晶体相当的高灵敏度，同时保持极低的生产成本。可以在国家的港口和大型公共场所中广泛部署闪光灯，以阻止安全威胁。 当前的辐射探测器主要基于单晶无机半导体或闪烁体，而这些探测器都不满足高灵敏度，能量分辨率，现场性和低成本的要求。该提案旨在开发一种基本方法，用于合成与无机单晶闪烁体相当的闪烁性能的共轭聚合物整体。可以通过在模具中以极低的生产成本在模具中的热固性聚合来合成整体。 该研究将研究具有较大三重能量水平的共轭化合物和聚合物，作为宿主材料，将单线和三重态激子转移到蓝色磷光荧光中，以获得高闪烁光的产量。将研究熔融溶液的共聚物作为一种有效的技术，以合成具有添加剂均匀分布和可忽略的聚合的散装大小透明整体。该项目的目的是展示透明的共轭聚合物整体，目标光收益率为100,000/meV，这是当前商用塑料闪烁体的近10倍。还将研究对中子颗粒和伽马射线的高吸收横截面的敏化剂，以提高灵敏度和中子γ脉冲区分。这项工作基于对透明聚合物整体的初步研究，其光收益率已经是商用塑料闪烁体的4.6倍。提出的具有高闪烁光收益率和低生产成本的共轭聚合物闪光灯将为国土安全性，医疗成像和太空探索而开放广泛的新应用。研究发现将迅速传播，该项目中开发的技术的目标是转移以进行快速商业化。该项目将对从高中到博士候选人的学生的教育和指导。具有材料科学和核材料互动双重专业的本科生和研究生的教育和培训是项目活动的一部分。研究生和博士后研究员将有机会在合作的国家实验室实习，以获得有关辐射检测的第一手经验。