Traditional liquid and plastic scintillators enable detection of various radiation sources but are limited in their ability to determine source location. While various technologies, such as compact neutron scatter cameras, allow for precise location of radiation sources, their high cost often becomes a barrier for implementation. This work addresses these issues by utilizing direct-ink write (DIW) additive manufacturing of polysiloxane-based scintillator inks as a method for fabricating cost-effective metamaterial scintillators for radiation detection, spatial discrimination, and spectroscopy. Shear-thinning polysiloxane inks comprise a phenylated polysiloxane copolymer and various blue and green scintillation dyes. The DIW technique allows for a multimaterial printing of fine, submillimeter features with distinctly dyed blue or green domains in a variety of different geometries, including logpile and lattice structures. Neutron incidence that occurs within a single domain will produce either green or blue light, while neutrons of sufficiently high energy can cross domains and produce a mixture of green and blue light. Analysis of energy spectra and color mixtures can then be used to determine angle of incidence and radiation source location.

3D printable polysiloxane metamaterial scintillators for neutron detection

ACS Fall 2020 Virtual Meeting

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