Organic Electronics and Organic Scintillators in Radiation Detection Applications

电离辐射在疾病，特别是癌症的诊断和治疗中起着非常重要的作用。据估计，大约一半的癌症患者在治疗过程中应该接受某种形式的放射治疗。虽然辐射有可能控制甚至治愈癌症，但如果不安全使用，它也有可能造成巨大伤害。安全使用辐射的一个条件是能够准确测量辐射场的不同特性。为此目的设计的工具称为辐射探测器和剂量计。一个理想的剂量计应该以与人体相同的方式对辐射作出反应，但目前使用的大多数剂量计都是由与组织不特别相似的材料制成的。拟议的工作旨在开发一种基于有机电子器件的新型辐射探测器和剂量计。术语有机电子器件用于描述其组成包括在其作为电子器件的功能中起作用的至少一些有机材料（即碳基）的电子器件。在辐射感测和剂量测定应用的背景下，有机电子器件是有吸引力的，因为它们的组成可以被优化以定制它们对辐射场的响应以类似于人体组织的响应。在过去的几年里，我的实验室一直在研究这些设备在辐射领域的表现。此外，我们一直在研究有机电子器件（特别是光电二极管）与塑料闪烁器（暴露于辐射时会发光的材料）的组合-我们称之为无柄塑料闪烁探测器（SPSD）。这些研究的结果非常令人鼓舞，并确定了许多新的探索途径。在当前的提案中，我们将：- 开发一个模拟平台，以计算不同设备对辐射场的预期响应-开发预测材料最佳组合的方法，以制造高灵敏度SPSD-提高SPSD的性能-将高效钙钛矿太阳能电池纳入SPSD设计-设计和评估SPSD阵列，以允许研究2-能量在辐射场中的空间分布-开发可用于喷墨印刷技术中以高成本效益的方式产生SPSD阵列的分散“油墨”-探索无线有机电子检测器的设计和使用。这些目标将使我的实验室成为开发和评估有机电子辐射探测器和剂量计的全球领导者。

Ionizing radiation plays a very important role in the diagnosis and treatment of disease, particularly cancer. It is estimated that approximately half of all cancer patients should receive some form of radiation therapy during the management of their disease. While radiation has the potential to control and even cure cancer, it also has the potential to do great harm if it is not used safely. A condition for safe use of radiation is the ability to accurately measure different properties of a radiation field. Tools designed for this purpose are called radiation detectors and dosimeters. An ideal dosimeter should respond to radiation in the same way that the human body does, but most dosimeters used today are made from materials that are not particularly similar to tissue. The proposed work seeks to develop a new class of radiation detectors and dosimeters that is based on organic electronic devices. The term organic electronics is used to describe electronic devices whose composition includes at least some organic material (i.e. carbon-based) that plays a role in its functionality as an electronic device. In the context of radiation sensing and dosimetry applications, organic electronics are attractive because their composition can be optimized to tailor their response to radiation fields to be similar to that of human tissue. Over the last several years, my lab has been studying how these devices perform in fields of radiation. In addition, we have been studying the combination of organic electronic devices (in particular photodiodes) with plastic scintillators (material that gives off light when it is exposed to radiation) - a combination we have called the stemless plastic scintillation detector (SPSD). The results of these studies have been very encouraging and have identified many new avenues of exploration. In the current proposal, we will:  - Develop a simulation platform to calculate the expected response of different devices to fields of radiation  - Develop methods to predict optimal combinations of materials to make highly sensitive SPSDs  - Improve the performance of SPSDs  - Incorporate highly efficient perovskite solar cells into the SPSD design  - Design and evaluate arrays of SPSDs to permit the study of 2-dimensional distribution of energy in a radiation field  - Develop scintillating "inks" that can be used in ink jet printing technology to produce arrays of SPSDs in a highly cost-effective manner  - Explore the design and use of wireless organic electronic detectors Together, these objectives will position my lab to be a global leader in the development and evaluation of organic electronics-based radiation detectors and dosimeters.