MATERIALS SEMINAR
Department of Materials Science & Engineering
Tuesday February 4, 2020
9:45 – 10:45AM ~ Ferris Hall 502
Please join us for refreshments at 9:40

"Plastic Nanocomposite Spectroscopic Scintillators"

Speaker: Dr. Qibing Pei, Professor  
Department of Materials Science and Engineering
University of California, Los Angeles-Los Angeles, CA

Abstract:
Spectroscopic gamma detection has applications for scientific research, defense, medical diagnosis and therapy. Current commercial detectors are either prohibitively expensive for wide deployment or incapable of producing the characteristic gamma photopeak. We synthesize transparent, ultra-high-loading nanoparticle polymer composite monoliths for gamma scintillation. The efficient Förster resonance energy transfer enables the extraction of excitons for photon production. The nanocomposite scintillator exhibited improvements in both light yield (visible photons produced per MeV of gamma photon energy) and gamma attenuation. With these enhancements, a 662 keV Cs-137 gamma photopeak with smaller than 10% energy resolution has been obtained using a quantum-dot nanocomposite scintillator. Challenges and opportunities for further development will be discussed.

Biography:
Qibing Pei is Professor of Materials Science and Engineering and Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of California, Los Angeles. He specializes in synthetic polymers and composites for electronic, electromechanical, and photonic applications, with over 200 peer-reviewed journal publications and 44 issued US patents. He directs the UCLA Soft Materials Research Laboratory. Current major research subjects include plastic scintillators, flexible electronics, artificial muscles, and electrocaloric cooling. He received a B.S. in Chemistry from Nanjing University and a PhD from the Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Science. He was a postdoctoral fellow at Linköping University, Sweden, and previously worked at UNIAX Corporation (now DuPont Display), and SRI International. He has been on the UCLA faculty since 2004 and directs the Soft Materials Research Laboratory. He is a Fellow of SPIE, member of ACS and MRS, Associate Editor of Smart Materials & Structures, and Advisory Board Member of Soft Robotics, Advanced Electronic Materials, and Scientific Reports. 
Faculty Host: Dr. Mariya Zhuravleva