Transparent Solid‐State Lithiated Neutron Scintillators Based on Self‐Assembly of Polystyrene‐block‐poly(ethylene oxide) Copolymer Architectures

Abstract

A new transparent neutron‐scintillating material has been developed based on polystyrene‐block‐poly(ethylene oxide). The unique self‐assembly structure of the block copolymer makes it possible to dope hydrophilic Li+ in the ethylene‐oxide domain and hydrophobic organic fluors in the styrene domain (see Figure).

Pulse shape discrimination between (fast or thermal) neutrons and gamma rays with plastic scintillators: State of the art

“…In the early 2000s, a strategy consisting in trapping the 6 Li cation inside a quasi-crown ether was proposed by Dai et al [10]. Thus, small samples (films with thickness less than 2 mm) of a block polymer, poly (styrene-block-ethylene oxide) were prepared.…”

Synergistic Assembly of Heavy Metal Clusters and Luminescent Organic Bridging Ligands in Metal–Organic Frameworks for Highly Efficient X-ray Scintillation

“…Organic crystals such as anthracene can also serve as radiation scintillators, particularly for detecting low-energy β-rays and neutrons due to their high scattering cross sections for electron and neutron and low rates of backscattering. − Organic scintillators are however ineffective for X-ray detection (<100 keV) due to their low X-ray scattering cross sections. Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) are a class of crystalline materials that are built from well-defined molecular bridging ligands and metal/metal cluster connecting nodes. − MOFs thus provide a tunable platform for the co-assembly of organic scintillator molecules and metal cluster nodes of high atomic numbers ( Z ) within a highly ordered structure .…”

Pre-Irradiation of Boric Acid Solutions in a Research Reactor

“…Nuclear reactions of neutron absorbers such as 10 B or 6 Li in solid materials with thermal neutrons have been widely studied, and their applications are quite broad 1,2 . To our best of knowledge, the thermal neutron irradiation of water samples containing neutron absorbers has not been published except for a paper reporting the experimental data obtained at high temperatures 3 .…”