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Recent advances, challenges, and opportunities of inorganic nanoscintillators

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Abstract

This review article highlights the exploration of inorganic nanoscintillators for various scientific and technological applications in the fields of radiation detection, bioimaging, and medical theranostics. Various aspects of nanoscintillators pertaining to their fundamental principles, mechanism, structure, applications are briefly discussed. The mechanisms of inorganic nanoscintillators are explained based on the fundamental principles, instrumentation involved, and associated physical and chemical phenomena, etc. Subsequently, the promise of nanoscintillators over the existing single-crystal scintillators and other types of scintillators is presented, enabling their development for multifunctional applications. The processes governing the scintillation mechanisms in nanodomains, such as surface, structure, quantum, and dielectric confinement, are explained to reveal the underlying nanoscale scintillation phenomena. Additionally, suitable examples are provided to explain these processes based on the published data. Furthermore, we attempt to explain the different types of inorganic nanoscintillators in terms of the powder nanoparticles, thin films, nanoceramics, and glasses to ensure that the effect of nanoscience in different nanoscintillator domains can be appreciated. The limitations of nanoscintillators are also highlighted in this review article. The advantages of nanostructured scintillators, including their property-driven applications, are also explained. This review article presents the considerable application potential of nanostructured scintillators with respect to important aspects as well as their physical and application significance in a concise manner.

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Acknowledgements

SKG would like to thank the United States-India Education Foundation (USIEF, India) and the Institute of International Education (IIE, USA) for his Fulbright Nehru Postdoctoral Fellowship (Award# 2268/FNPDR/2017). YM thanks the financial support provided by the IIT startup funds.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Radiochemistry Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Trombay, Mumbai, 400085, India

    Santosh K. Gupta

  2. Department of Chemistry, Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, IL, 60616, USA

    Yuanbing Mao

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  1. Santosh K. Gupta
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Correspondence to Yuanbing Mao.

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Dr. Santosh Kumar Gupta is a Scientific Officer at the Radiochemistry Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, since 2010. He received his B.Sc. degree from Delhi University, M.Sc. degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, and Ph.D. degree from the Homi Bhabha National Institute, Mumbai, India. He has been awarded with various international fellowships, such as Indo-US, JSPS, and Fulbright for Postdoctoral studies. He was the recipient of the Department of Atomic Energy Group Achievement and Young Scientist award from the Govt. of India for 2010 and 2017, respectively. As of today, he has published 137 journal articles with approximately 2200 citations and an hindex of 28. His area of research encompasses photo/radioluminescence of lanthanide and actinides, defect spectroscopy, upconversion of nanoparticles, optical materials for health, energy and environment, etc.

Dr. Yuanbing Mao is a professor of Chemistry at Illinois Institute of Technology. He received his B.Sc. degree from Xiangtan University, M.Sc. degree from the Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Ph.D. degree from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. He has earned several awards, including the Department of Defense Young Investigator Award and the Outstanding Mentorship Award from the Council on Undergraduate Research, and is a recipient of the DOE Visiting Faculty Program. As of today, he has published more than 100 peer-reviewed journal articles as well as some book chapters and patents. His research interests include nanomaterials, solid-state science and nanoscience with expertise in optoelectronics, energy storage and conversion, and environmental remediation.

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Gupta, S.K., Mao, Y. Recent advances, challenges, and opportunities of inorganic nanoscintillators. Front. Optoelectron. 13, 156–187 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12200-020-1003-5

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