Carbon-based thin films as a suitable alternative to metallized films for the preparation of radioactive sources

A new method for radionuclide labeling by the use of graphene thin films was previously presented. In this work, a comparison among low energy radioactive sources supported on carbonaceous thin films on polyvinyl chloride-polyvinyl acetate copolymer (VYNS), based on the use of aqueous solutions is investigated as a feasible alternative to the traditional metallized films avoiding the downside of the loss of many broken films. Graphene-based materials were prepared by both oxidation-exfoliation-reduction and direct graphite exfoliation routes. In addition, multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) thin films were also evaluated. The stability of both carbonaceous materials aqueous dispersions were studied by using ionic and non-ionic surfactants. Solid carbon-based materials were characterized by X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) whereas the colloidal nature of the aqueous dispersions was verified by the measurement of Tyndall effect and the morphology of thin films was evaluated by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). ⁵⁵Fe solutions were used to prepare the radioactive sources on the thin films by quantitative drop deposition. The quality of spectra was measured in a pressurized proportional counter. Results showed a resolution higher than 0.9 keV for all the tested sources. However, MWCNT-based along with non-surfactant sources presented non-adequate escape peaks and low energy tails. On the contrary, all the graphene-based sources prepared using surfactants to stabilize aqueous solutions presented an energy resolution comparable to that of the metallized source while offering notable advantages in terms of cost efficiency and reliability of the as-prepared supports.