Influence of bismuth loading in polystyrene-based plastic scintillators for low energy gamma spectroscopy

This article presents the synthesis and the blend of bismuth complexes in polystyrene based plastic scintillators. A specific design has enabled the fabrication of a scintillator loaded with up to 17 wt% of bismuth. Tri-carboxylate and triaryl bismuth compounds were used to explore and understand the influence of bismuth loading on the two main criteria of plastic scintillation: light yield and detection efficiency of γ-rays. For gamma radiation with an energy <200 keV, bismuth loaded scintillators demonstrate the ability to produce a photoelectric peak (total absorption peak) in pulse height spectra. The increase of interactions due to bismuth doping was quantified and fitted with standard models. Finally the performance of our bismuth loaded scintillators was evaluated to be better than that of a commercial lead loaded counterpart.