Bismuth sulpho iodide (BiSI) belongs to the family of chalcohalides, which present several attractive electro-optic properties. In particular, BiSI is a semiconductor which could be used in X and gamma ray detection due to a band gap of 1.6 eV, density of 6.4 g cm −3 , and absorption coefficient for 60 keV radiation of 5.6 cm 2 g −1 . This work presents a facile synthesis under solvothermal conditions of a nanocomposite consisting of BiSI nanorods and amorphous carbon structures. Furthermore, it studies its ionising radiation detection properties at room temperature, when prototype detectors were built from pellets. The construction conditions of pellets were also studied, varying the applied pressure and heat treatment to the nanocomposite. Dark current density and response to different exposure rates of a 241 Am source were measured for the prototype detectors built. It was found that heat treatment of pellets considerably improves detectors performance. Dark current density was one order of magnitude lower than for the pellets without heat treatment, and its response to the 241 Am source, linear, with a signal to noise ratio of 7 for 20 V. Finally, the resistivity for the heat treated detector was in the order of 10 11 Ω cm, comparable to other materials studied for this application.
Materials science is a growing research area in Uruguay. In order to obtain a brief overview of the research done we collected information about research in this field. As a starting point, we searched in the Scopus database for the keywords: affiliation country: “Uruguay” and subject: “Materials Science” (using the “Timbó” platform). We inspected the records and we analyzed them to construct a timeline. The data show that we are in a steady state regime of number of publications that we expect to increase together with the number of students in the area, with the generation of long term policies (grants, funding opportunities), and, if we get involved in a community that promotes this area of interest.
SnS2 has adequate properties for photovoltaic applications in solar cells. For this purpose, we studied the influence of the capping agents pyridine and aniline in the nanoparticles hydrothermal syntheses. These capping agents are suitable for use in hybrid organic- inorganic solar cells. Different ratios of these agents with respect to the metal precursor were tested. Hexagonal and disc-type nanoparticles were obtained. Lower concentrations of capping agent increased the proportion of hexagons, while diminishing their size. The obtained products are adequate in size, dispersion of size, and stabile in suspension in chloroform to use them in hybrid solar cells. Moreover, the use ofpyridine allowed for more stable suspensions, and therefore better results for this application.
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