Preparation, Optical and Scintillation Properties of Organotin Compounds Doped Polyvinyltoluene-based Plastic Scintillators

Traditional plastic scintillators are not suitable for energy spectroscopy detection due to their low effective atomic number and low density. The preparation of plastic scintillators doped with organic heavy metal compounds provides an effective avenue for energy spectroscopy detection for plastic scintillators. Organotin compounds doped plastic scintillators possess high photopeak sensitivity and retain fast decay characteristics of plastic scintillators. In this paper, polyvinyltoluene(PVT)-based plastic scintillators doped with different concentrations of 2-(tributylstannyl)furan were successfully prepared by free-radical polymerization, and their optical and scintillation properties were characterized and compared. The optical transmittance of 20% 2-(tributylstannyl)furan doped plastic scintillator based on PVT can be up to 90%. Under X-ray excitation, the radioluminescence spectrum of sample shows a broad band between 390 nm and 550 nm peaking at 425 nm. The sample demonstrates a light yield of 6 700 ph/MeV and an energy resolution of 15.8%@662 keV. The scintillation decay time is about 4.3 ns. 1 inch diameter plastic scintillator loaded with 20% 2-(tributylstannyl)furan was also prepared with a light yield of 6 300 ph/MeV and an energy resolution of 15.8%@662 keV. © 2022, Science Press. All right reserved.