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Detection of ionizing radiation using Ag-doped ZnS nanoparticles

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Abstract

Fluorescent Ag-doped ZnS nanoparticles have been prepared and used as scintillators for detecting ionizing radiation. Results demonstrate a linear relationship between emitted luminescence and the fluence of alpha particles. These results suggest that Ag-doped ZnS nanoparticles alone could be used as solid scintillators for specific environmental and medical applications. This study deals with the investigation of some physical characteristics of hydrothermal synthesized Ag-doped ZnS nanoparticles (NPs) using different techniques. XRD analysis clear that the prepared materials have a cubic phase. Direct energy gap has been investigated using Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy (DRS) and well-known Kubelka–Munk function (F(R)). The energy gap is equal to 3.47 eV. Also, for PL decay, the time constant observed for decay at 480 nm is 130.6 ns for fast component and 2611.4 ns for slow component. For studding the performance of the scintillation materials, a charged particle irradiation system was designed and constructed to examine the response of a commercial and native ZnS scintillator for alpha particles. Also, Pulse height spectrum of alpha particles and gamma rays has been investigated. Enhancing the PL emission of doped ZnS is one of the paper's achievements.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support of both the Ministry of Education, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the technical support of the Promising Center for Sensors and Electronic Devices (PCSED) at Najran University for this research through a Grant (PCSED-014-18).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, College of Science and Arts, Najran University, P.O. Box 1988, Najran, 11001, Saudi Arabia

    Ayman M. Abdalla

  2. Promising Centre for Sensors and Electronic Devices (PCSED), Najran University, P.O. Box: 1988, Najran, 11001, Saudi Arabia

    Ayman M. Abdalla

  3. Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, King Khalid University, Abha, Saudi Arabia

    Atif M. Ali

  4. Division of Materials Science, Nara Institute of Science and Technology, (NAIST), 8916-5 Takayama, Ikoma, Nara, 630-0192, Japan

    Noriaki Kawaguchi & Takayuki Yanagida

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  1. Ayman M. Abdalla
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Correspondence to Ayman M. Abdalla.

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Abdalla, A.M., Ali, A.M., Kawaguchi, N. et al. Detection of ionizing radiation using Ag-doped ZnS nanoparticles. J Mater Sci: Mater Electron 33, 2450–2460 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-021-07451-8

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