Colloidal quantum shells provide bright and durable scintillation
Scientific Achievement
Colloidal quantum shell heterostructures have been developed and tested as scintillators for X-ray and electron detection. They combine high efficiency, speed, and durability.
Significance and Impact
The quantum shells are suitable for medical diagnosis, defense, and particle physics applications requiring ultrafast radiation detection and high-resolution imaging.
Research Details
- The quantum shells were characterized under pulsed X-ray, electron, and optical excitations to determine their radio-, cathodo-, and photoluminescence properties.
- X-ray imaging with high spatial resolution was demonstrated with large-area quantum shell films.
About Argonne’s Center for Nanoscale Materials
The Center for Nanoscale Materials is one of the five DOE Nanoscale Science Research Centers, premier national user facilities for interdisciplinary research at the nanoscale supported by the DOE Office of Science. Together the NSRCs comprise a suite of complementary facilities that provide researchers with state-of-the-art capabilities to fabricate, process, characterize and model nanoscale materials, and constitute the largest infrastructure investment of the National Nanotechnology Initiative. The NSRCs are located at DOE’s Argonne, Brookhaven, Lawrence Berkeley, Oak Ridge, Sandia and Los Alamos National Laboratories. For more information about the DOE NSRCs, please visit https://science.osti.gov/User-Facilities/User-Facilities-at-a-Glance.
Argonne National Laboratory seeks solutions to pressing national problems in science and technology by conducting leading-edge basic and applied research in virtually every scientific discipline. Argonne is managed by UChicago Argonne, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science.
The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, visit https://energy.gov/science.