Gaurang Vaidya
Pronouns: he/him
Research Mentor(s): Mark Hammig, Associate Research Scientist
Research Mentor School/College/Department: Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences, College of Engineering
Presentation Date: Thursday, April 22, 2021
Session: Session 2 (11am – 11:50am)
Breakout Room: Room 17
Presenter: 5
Abstract
In various applications of detecting ionizing radiation, the primary methods of detection are through high purity Germanium (HPGe), and silicon (Si) detectors which have remained the status quo for decades, despite their fundamental disadvantages including requiring significant cooling due to the thermal generation of charge carriers for the HPGe detectors, degradation of Si from the ionizing radiation, and high cost. PbSe nanocrystalline (NC) detectors aim to solve disadvantages by providing cheap, and effective detectors that are comparable if not superior to HPGe/Si detectors in detecting ionizing radiation. The bottleneck preventing the use of PbSe NC detectors is the access to large yields of uniformly fabricated PbSe NCs. Chemical syntheses were performed by combining lead and selenium (Se) precursors at a predetermined temperature with rapidly injecting Se, introduced as tris(dimethylamino)phosphine selenide (TDP-Se). Following each chemical synthesis, an absorbance measurement is typically carried out to understand the overall uniformity and yield of the colloidal solution. With the help of absorbance, here, we plan to also understand the longevity of the supposed air-enhanced PbSe NCs produced with this new synthetic strategy. Various modifications within the synthesis have been carried out in efforts to produce/replicate the best results of uniformity and air-stability, for they could be the new prerequisites for use in nanocrystalline-based radiation detectors.
Authors: Gaurang Vaidya, Brandon Davis, Mark Hammig
Research Method: Experimental Research
