Boron Nitride Nanotube Cyclotron Targets for Recoil Escape Production of Carbon-11

Abstract

Boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs) were investigated as a target media for cyclotron production of 11 C for incident beam energy at or below 11 MeV. Both the 11 B(p,n) 11 C and 14 N(p,α) 11 C nuclear reactions were utilized. A sweep gas of nitrogen or helium was used to collect recoil escape atoms with a desired form of 11 CO 2 . Three prototype targets were tested using an RDS-111 cyclotron. Target geometry and density were shown to impact the saturation yield of 11 C and percent of yield recovered as carbon dioxide. Physical damage to the BNNT target media was observed at beam currents above 5 µA. Additional studies are needed to identify operating conditions suitable for commercial application of the method.

Special Issue ”Instruments and Methods for Cyclotron Produced Radioisotopes”

“…In particular, 3D printing was used at the Cyclotron Facility in Perth [10]. 11 C is a PET radioisotope that, due to its short half-life of about 20 minutes, cannot be transported far away from the production site and is of interest only for hospital based facilities where the PET scanner and the cyclotron are located at very short distance. Despite this disadvantage, 11 C is used to label relevant medical compounds and novel targets are under study, as the one presented in the paper by J. Peeples et al [11] based on boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs).…”