An organosilicon-loaded plastic scintillator synthesized for neutron/gamma discrimination

In this work, we report a scintillator used for neutron/gamma discrimination, which consists of a polyvinyltoluene matrix loaded with monomers of dimethoxydiphenylsilane (DDS), and fluor dyes, namely 2,5-diphenyloxazole and 7-diethylamino-4-methylcoumarin as the primary fluorophore and wavelength-shifting, respectively. The DDS is an organosilicon compound containing double benzene rings that facilitates fluorescence emission and radiation resistance. Several measurements were performed to explore the scintillators optical and detection properties, including 238Pu-Be neutron radiation and relative light yield conducted by 137Cs gamma-ray source. It is found that the synthesized plastic scintillators are capable of excellently discriminating between neutron and gamma-rays. They exhibit a light output that are comparable to the commercial scintillator (EJ-200). The scintillators are low-cost productive, highly transparent, and somewhat soft but hard enough for post-production processing (machine cutting and polishing). This design may contribute a new strategy for highly efficient neutron/gamma discrimination organic scintillators.