Large Scale BN-perovskite Nanocomposite Aerogel Scintillator for Thermal Neutron Detection

State-of-the-art thermal neutron scintillation detectors rely on rare isotopes for neutron capture, lack stability and scalability of solid-state scintillation devices, and poorly discriminate between the neutron and gamma rays. The boron nitride (BN)-CsPbBr3 perovskite nanocomposite aerogel scintillator enables discriminative detection of thermal neutrons, features the largest known size (9 cm across), the lowest density (0.17 g cm(-3)) among the existing scintillation materials, high BN (50%) perovskite (1%) contents, high optical transparency (85%), and excellent radiation stability. The new detection mechanism relies on thermal neutron capture by B-10 and effective energy transfer from the charged particles to visible-range scintillation photons between the densely packed BN and CsPbBr3 nanocrystals. Low density minimizes the gamma ray response. The neutrons and gamma rays are discriminated by complete decoupling of the respective single pulses in time and intensity. These outcomes open new avenues for neutron detection in resource exploration, clean energy, environmental, aerospace, and homeland security applications.

Automated summary

State-of-the-art thermal neutron scintillation detectors currently rely on rare isotopes for neutron capture and have limitations in stability, scalability, and discrimination between neutron and gamma rays. However, the boron nitride (BN)-CsPbBr3 perovskite nanocomposite aerogel scintillator offers discriminative detection of thermal neutrons, with a large size (9 cm), low density (0.17 g cm(-3)), high BN (50%) and perovskite (1%) contents, high optical transparency (85%), and excellent radiation stability. The novel detection mechanism utilizes thermal neutron capture and effective energy transfer between densely packed BN and CsPbBr3 nanocrystals, allowing for discrimination between neutrons and gamma rays.