Natural and anthropogenic gas radionuclides such as radon, xenon, hydrogen and krypton isotopes must be monitored to be managed as pathogenic agents, radioactive diagnostic agents or nuclear activity indicators. State-of-the-art detectors based on liquid scintillators suffer from laborious preparation and limited solubility for gases, which affect the accuracy of the measurements. The actual challenge is to find solid scintillating materials simultaneously capable of concentrating radioactive gases and efficiently producing visible light revealed with high sensitivity. The high porosity, combined with the use of scintillating building blocks in metal–organic frameworks (MOFs), offers the possibility to satisfy these requisites. We demonstrate the capability of a hafnium-based MOF incorporating dicarboxy-9,10-diphenylanthracene as a scintillating conjugated ligand to detect gas radionuclides. Metal–organic frameworks show fast scintillation, a fluorescence yield of ∼40%, and accessible porosity suitable for hosting noble gas atoms and ions. Adsorption and detection of 85Kr, 222Rn and 3H radionuclides are explored through a newly developed device that is based on a time coincidence technique. Metal–organic framework crystalline powder demonstrated an improved sensitivity, showing a linear response down to a radioactivity value below 1 kBq m−3 for 85Kr, which outperforms commercial devices. These results support the possible use of scintillating porous MOFs to fabricate sensitive detectors of natural and anthropogenic radionuclides.

Orfano, M., Perego, J., Cova, F., Bezuidenhout, C., Piva, S., Dujardin, C., et al. (2023). Efficient radioactive gas detection by scintillating porous metal–organic frameworks. NATURE PHOTONICS, 17(8), 672-678 [10.1038/s41566-023-01211-2].

Efficient radioactive gas detection by scintillating porous metal–organic frameworks

Orfano, Matteo
Primo
;
Perego, Jacopo;Cova, Francesca;Bezuidenhout, Charl X.;Piva, Sergio;Bracco, Silvia;Vedda, Anna
;
Comotti, Angiolina
;
Monguzzi, Angelo
Ultimo
2023

Abstract

Natural and anthropogenic gas radionuclides such as radon, xenon, hydrogen and krypton isotopes must be monitored to be managed as pathogenic agents, radioactive diagnostic agents or nuclear activity indicators. State-of-the-art detectors based on liquid scintillators suffer from laborious preparation and limited solubility for gases, which affect the accuracy of the measurements. The actual challenge is to find solid scintillating materials simultaneously capable of concentrating radioactive gases and efficiently producing visible light revealed with high sensitivity. The high porosity, combined with the use of scintillating building blocks in metal–organic frameworks (MOFs), offers the possibility to satisfy these requisites. We demonstrate the capability of a hafnium-based MOF incorporating dicarboxy-9,10-diphenylanthracene as a scintillating conjugated ligand to detect gas radionuclides. Metal–organic frameworks show fast scintillation, a fluorescence yield of ∼40%, and accessible porosity suitable for hosting noble gas atoms and ions. Adsorption and detection of 85Kr, 222Rn and 3H radionuclides are explored through a newly developed device that is based on a time coincidence technique. Metal–organic framework crystalline powder demonstrated an improved sensitivity, showing a linear response down to a radioactivity value below 1 kBq m−3 for 85Kr, which outperforms commercial devices. These results support the possible use of scintillating porous MOFs to fabricate sensitive detectors of natural and anthropogenic radionuclides.
Articolo in rivista - Articolo scientifico
Metal Organic Frameworks; scintillation; radionuclides; opticla detecion; porous materials; gas absorprtion; radioactive gas
English
18-mag-2023
2023
17
8
672
678
open
Orfano, M., Perego, J., Cova, F., Bezuidenhout, C., Piva, S., Dujardin, C., et al. (2023). Efficient radioactive gas detection by scintillating porous metal–organic frameworks. NATURE PHOTONICS, 17(8), 672-678 [10.1038/s41566-023-01211-2].
File in questo prodotto:
File Dimensione Formato  
Orfano-2023-Nat Photon-VoR.pdf

accesso aperto

Descrizione: Article
Tipologia di allegato: Publisher’s Version (Version of Record, VoR)
Licenza: Creative Commons
Dimensione 2.18 MB
Formato Adobe PDF
2.18 MB Adobe PDF Visualizza/Apri

I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/10281/416316
Citazioni
  • Scopus 26
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.isi??? 20
Social impact