A proposed boron-carbide-based solid-state neutron detector

Its large cross section for absorption of thermal neutrons has made B10 a frequent candidate for use in neutron detectors. Here a boron-carbide-based thermoelectric device for the detection of a thermal-neutron flux is proposed. The very high melting temperatures and the radiation tolerance of boron carbides make them suitable for use within hostile environments (e.g., within nuclear reactors). The large anomalous Seebeck coefficients of boron carbides are exploited in proposing a relatively sensitive detector of the local heating that follows the absorption of a neutron by a B10 nucleus in a boron carbide. © 2005 American Institute of Physics.