Neutrons are widely used in national defense, security, and medical health fields. It is critical to realize neutron detection with high efficiency. The most popular neutron detection scintillators such as lithium glass and ⁶LiF/ZnS:Ag screen exhibit insurmountable limitations: the former usually has relatively rather low light yield and latter is opaque. In this research, we report the successful construction of the novel full inorganic composite scintillators by low temperature co-firing technology. The composite scintillator is derived from the ZnS:Ag and borate glass matrix, and it shows better transparency compared with the standard ⁶LiF/ZnS:Ag screen. It exhibits excellent scintillation properties with the X-ray induced emission intensity of these composite scintillators reaching approximately 2.46 times of the standard Bi₄Ge₃O₁₂ (BGO) crystal. The light output under thermal neutron excitation can reach 75 000 photons/neutron. In addition, it presents excellent neutron detection performance with natural abundance of ¹⁰B isotope. Our research findings can serve as a valuable reference for the advancement of robust neutron detection materials, particularly in the domain of ZnS:Ag-based full inorganic scintillator for neutron detection.

中文翻译：

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用于辐射检测的玻璃-ZnS:Ag 闪烁复合材料

中子广泛应用于国防、安全、医疗卫生等领域。实现高效中子探测至关重要。最流行的中子探测闪烁体，如锂玻璃和⁶ LiF/ZnS:Ag 屏，表现出难以克服的局限性：前者通常具有相对较低的光输出，而后者是不透明的。在这项研究中，我们报道了通过低温共烧技术成功构建新型全无机复合材料闪烁体。该复合闪烁体由 ZnS:Ag 和硼酸盐玻璃基体衍生而来，与标准⁶ LiF/ZnS:Ag 屏幕相比，它表现出更好的透明度。它表现出优异的闪烁性能，这些复合闪烁体的X射线诱导发射强度达到标准Bi ₄ Ge ₃ O ₁₂ (BGO)晶体的约2.46倍。热中子激发下的光输出可达75 000光子/中子。此外，它还具有出色的中子探测性能和¹⁰ B 同位素的天然丰度。我们的研究结果可以为鲁棒中子探测材料的发展提供有价值的参考，特别是在用于中子探测的ZnS:Ag基全无机闪烁体领域。