Dynamic Reversible Full-Color Piezochromic Fluorogens Featuring Through-Space Charge-Transfer Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescence and their Application as X-Ray Imaging Scintillators.

Thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) emitters featuring through-space charge transfer (TSCT) can be excellent candidates for piezochromic luminescent (PCL) materials due to their structural dynamics. Spatial donor-acceptor (D-A) stacking arrangements enable the modulation of inter- and intramolecular D-A interactions, as well as spatial charge transfer states, under varying pressure conditions. Herein, we demonstrate an effective approach toward dynamic reversible full-color PCL materials with TSCT-TADF characteristics. Their single crystals exhibit a full-color-gamut PCL process spanning a range of 170 nm. Moreover, the TSCT-TADF-PCL emitters display a unity photoluminescence quantum yield, and show promising application in X-ray scintillator imaging.

Wide-Range Color-Tunable Organic Scintillators for X-Ray Imaging Through Host-Guest Doping.

With the increasing demands of X-ray detection and medical diagnosis, organic scintillators with intense and tunable X-ray excited emission have been becoming important. To guarantee the X-ray absorption, heavy atoms were widely added in reported organic scintillators, which led to emission quenching. In this work, we propose a new strategy to realize organic scintillators through the host-guest doping strategy. Then the X-ray absorption centers (host) and emission centers (guest) are separated. Under X-ray excitation, these materials displayed intense and readily tunable emissions ranging from green (520 nm) to near infrared (NIR) regions (682 nm). Besides, the relationship between the X-ray absorption and spatial arrangement of the heavy atoms in the host matrix was also revealed. The potential application of these wide-range color tunable organic host-guest scintillators in X-ray imaging were demonstrated. This work provides a new feasible strategy for constructing high-performance organic scintillators with tunable luminescence properties.

Influence of Isomerism on Radioluminescence of Purely Organic Phosphorescence Scintillators.

There are few reports about purely organic phosphorescence scintillators, and the relationship between molecular structures and radioluminescence in organic scintillators is still unclear. Here, we presented isomerism strategy to study the effect of molecular structures on radioluminescence. The isomers can achieve phosphorescence efficiency of up to 22.8 % by ultraviolet irradiation. Under X-ray irradiation, both m-BA and p-BA show excellent radioluminescence, while o-BA has almost no radioluminescence. Through experimental and theoretical investigation, we found that radioluminescence was not only affected by non-radiation in emissive process, but also highly depended on the material conductivity caused by the different molecular packing. This study not only allows us to clearly understand the relationship between the molecular structures and radioluminescence, but also provides a guidance to rationally design new organic scintillators.

Extractive scintillating polymer sensors for trace-level detection of uranium in contaminated ground water.

This contribution describes the synthesis of robust extractive scintillating resin and its use in a flow-cell detector for the direct detection of uranium in environmental waters. The base poly[(4-methyl styrene)-co-(4-vinylbenzyl chloride)-co-(divinylbenzene)-co-(2-(1-napthyl)-4-vinyl-5-phenyloxazole)] resin contains covalently bound fluorophores. Uranium-binding functionality was added to the resin by an Arbuzov reaction followed by hydrolysis via strong acid or trimethylsilyl bromide (TMSBr)-mediated methanolysis. The resin was characterized by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy and spectrofluorometry. Fluorophore degradation was observed in the resin hydrolyzed by strong acid, while the resin hydrolyzed by TMSBr-mediated methanolysis maintained luminosity and showed hydrogen bonding-induced Stokes' shift of ∼100 nm. The flow cell detection efficiency for uranium of the TMSBr-mediated methanolysis resin was evaluated at pH 4, 5 and 6 in DI water containing 500 Bq L-1 uranium-233 and demonstrated flow cell detection efficiencies of 23%, 16% and 7%. Experiments with pH 4, synthetic groundwater with 50 Bq L-1 uranium-233 exhibited a flow cell detection efficiency of 17%. The groundwater measurements show that the resins can concentrate the uranyl cation from waters with high concentrations of competitor ions at near-neutral pH. Findings from this research will lay the groundwork for development of materials for real-time environmental sensing of alpha- and beta-emitting radionuclides.

Fabrication and Optimization of a Fiber-optic Dosimeter for Proton Beam Therapy Dosimetry / 의학물리

In this study, we have fabricated a fiber-optic dosimeter for a proton beam therapy dosimetry. We have measured scintillating lights with the various kinds of organic scintillators and selected the BCF-12 as a sensor-tip material due to its highest light output and peak/plateau ratio. To determine the optimum diameter of BCF-12, we have measured scintillating lights according to the energy losses of proton beams in a water phantom. Also, we determined the adequate length of organic scintillator by measuring scintillating lights according to the incident angles of proton beam. Using an optimized fiber-optic dosimeter, we have measured scintillating lights according to the dose rates and monitor units of proton accelerator.

Fabrication and Characterization of a One-dimensional Fiber-optic Dosimeter for Electron Beam Therapy Dosimetry / 의학물리

In this study, we have fabricated a one-dimensional fiber-optic dosimeter for electron beam therapy dosimetry. Each fiber-optic dosimeter has an organic scintillator with a plastic optical fiber and it is embedded and arrayed in the plastic phantom to measure one-dimensional high energy electron beam profile of clinical linear accelerator. The scintillating lights generated from each sensor probe are guided by plastic optical fibers to the multi-channel photodiode amplifier system. We have measured one-dimensional electron beam profiles in a PMMA phantom according to different field sizes and energies of electron beam. Also, the isodose and three-dimensional percent depth dose curves in a PMMA phantom are obtained using a one-dimensional fiber-optic dosimeter with different electron beam energies.