Preliminary research and plan for development of nanocomposite scintillators used for radiation detection and monitoring

This investigation is to research for the development of a radiation detection and monitoring technology by using polymer based nanocompoiste scintillators that can detect gamma and/or neutron simultaneously or separately. In general, conventional scintillation crystals are fragile and hygroscopic, and also difficult for large area detection. In addition to these, they are very expensive compared to the other detectors even though they are good in quantum efficiency and energy resolution. To overcome these shortcomings, there have been many research efforts performed in US, Germany, and Japan, etc. while we have no such intensive research efforts in this field so far. In this regard, we successfully synthesized scintillating nanoparticles as well as polymer nanocomposites based on PS, PMMA, and PDMS. Also, we proved their scintillating properties upon irradiation of gammas and neutrons