(430d) Development and Performance Evaluation of Hydrophobic Metal-Oxide Nanocomposite Film Sensors for X-Ray Detection Applications

Organic semiconducting polymer-nanocomposite detectors enable the conversion of X-ray radiation into a series of electrical current response signals, which can subsequently be measured and analyzed. Various metal-oxide/polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) nanocomposite films based on Tl₂O₃, Bi₂O, CuO, ZnO, have been developed by our team and showed good sensitivity for soft X-rays detection applications.

In the same line, we have been fabricating and evaluating the performance hydrophobic, flexible metal-oxide nanocomposite X-ray detectors at Qatar University (QU), assess its functionality and performance under the X-ray beam at the Hamad Medical Hospital’s Radiology Department, Qatar. Hamad Hospital, and conduct Monte Carlo simulations for further evaluation and comparison. These nanocomposite exhibited promising responses at low-energy X-ray beams. The dosimetric properties including linearity, reproducibility, dose rate dependence, and energy dependence, were examined and compared against results from the Monte Carlo simulations studies. For example, films of ZnO and CuO/PVA based nanocomposites exhibited excellent linear dose responses up to 1.6 mGy as shown in Fig.2 c) and 3.3 mGy, achieving sensitivities of up to 220 μC mGy^-1 at an applied voltage of 10 V. Moreover, the five fabricated films showed highly reproducible outcomes, with a standard deviation of less than 2%. Films with optimized performance will be fabricated in large sizes using a flow coating set-up and a Laboratory Roll-To-Roll Coater (LR₂RC) thin film fabrication systems available at QU. This is to demonstrate the cost effectiveness and scalability potential of the X-ray detector sensors.

This work has been funded by the Qatar University collaborative grant # QUCG-CAS-25/26-819 and the statements made herein are solely the responsibility of the authors.