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Electronic structure and optical properties of the scintillation material wurtzite ZnS(Ag)

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Abstract

In order to investigate the effect of Ag doping (ZnS(Ag)) and Zn vacancy (\(V_\mathrm{{Zn}}\)) on the alpha particle detection performance of wurtzite (WZ) ZnS as a scintillation cell component, the electronic structure and optical properties of ZnS, ZnS(Ag), and \(V_\mathrm{{Zn}}\) were studied by first-principle calculation based on the density functional theory. The results show that the band gaps of ZnS, ZnS(Ag), and \(V_\mathrm{{Zn}}\) are 2.17, 1.79, and 2.37 eV, respectively. Both ZnS(Ag) and \(V_\mathrm{{Zn}}\) enhance the absorption and reflection of the low energy photons. A specific energy, about 2.9 eV, leading to decrease of detection efficiency is observed. The results indicate that Ag doping has a complex effect on the detection performance. It is beneficial to produce more visible light photons than pure WZ ZnS when exposed to the same amount of radiation, while the increase of the absorption to visible light photons weakens the detection performance. Zn vacancy has negative effect on the detection performance. If we want to improve the detection performance of WZ ZnS, Ag doping will be a good way, but we should reduce the absorption to visible light photons and control the number of Zn vacancy rigorously.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Beijing Key Laboratory of Passive Safety Technology for Nuclear Energy, School of Nuclear Science and Engineering, North China Electric Power University, Beijing, 102206, China

    Dong-Yang Jiang, Zheng Zhang, Zhi-Hong Zhang, Yang Li, Qiang Zhao & Xiao-Ping Ouyang

  2. School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, North China Electric Power University, Beijing, 102206, China

    Rui-Xue Liang

  3. Northwest Institute of Nuclear Technology, Xi’an, 710024, China

    Xiao-Ping Ouyang

  4. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Xiangtan University, Xiangtan, 411105, China

    Xiao-Ping Ouyang

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  1. Dong-Yang Jiang
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Correspondence to Qiang Zhao.

Additional information

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 11275071 and 11305061), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Nos. 2014MS53 and 2014ZZD09), and the Student’s Platform for Innovation and Entrepreneurship Training Program of North China Electric Power University (No. 15129).

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Jiang, DY., Zhang, Z., Liang, RX. et al. Electronic structure and optical properties of the scintillation material wurtzite ZnS(Ag). NUCL SCI TECH 28, 32 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41365-017-0194-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41365-017-0194-y

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