
An innovative plastic scintillator based on perovskite nanoparticles and organic molecules, capable of interacting with high energy radiation efficiently, quickly, and potentially much cheaper than commercial scintillator crystals has been created for a new generation of detectors by researchers from University of Milan-Bicocca and the start-up Glass to Power in collaboration with the National Institute of Nuclear Physics and the Italian Institute of Technology.
The results of this research carried out thanks to the joint efforts of the research teams led by Sergio Brovelli (president of the Scientific Council of Glass to Power) and Mauro Fasoli, associate professors of the Department of Materials and Luca Gironi, assistant professor of the Department of Physics of the University of Milano – Bicocca, has been published in Nature Nanotechnology with the title "Efficient, fast and reabsorption-free perovskite nanocrystal-based sensitized plastic scintillators "(DOI: 10.1038 / s41565-020-0683-8).
The detection of ionizing radiation, such as X-rays, gamma rays or elementary particles such as alpha or beta particles, is of fundamental importance in a large number of technological and scientific applications, ranging from border control and industrial safety, to high energy physics, astrophysics up to medical diagnostics.