Potential application of fabricated sulfide-based scintillation materials for radiation detection.

In our laboratories, we have produced ZnS(Ag)/6Li sol-gel scintillation materials which produce an excellent light output with an alpha radiation (compared to commercial high temperature lithiated glass; KG-2 and a plastic scintillator; BC-400). However, when tested with a neutron radiation, the opacity of the ZnS(Ag)/6Li sol-gel scintillation materials, which were composed of a homogeneous micron-sized ZnS(Ag), prevented a clear neutron energy peak formation, thus making it difficult to set a threshold for neutron-gamma discrimination. In an effort to increase the transparency of the scintillation materials and to develop new technologies to fabricate sulfide-based scintillation materials for neutron detection, we turned to the methods of a chemical bath deposition (CBD) and a nano-particle synthesis for possible solutions.