Real-Time Optical Response of Polysiloxane/Quantum Dot Nanocomposites under 2 MeV Proton Irradiation: Luminescence Enhancement of Polysiloxane Emission through Quantum Dot Sensitization

The growing interest toward the development of high-Z–sensitized organic scintillators is related with the potential possibility to merge the advantages of organic materials with those of inorganics. In fact, organic plastic scintillators offer large-area applications and fast response at a low cost, yet their performances for high-energy photons and charged particles are limited by the poor stopping power related with low-Z materials. The real-time optical investigation in terms of steady-state luminescence spectra of polysiloxane/quantum dot (QD) nanocomposite samples under 2 MeV proton irradiation is presented. Results show an increase in the light yield of the polysiloxane samples embedding QDs up to 8% in comparison with the undoped polymer, paving the way for high-Z sensitization through QDs in polysiloxane-based active radiation detection systems.