Nuclear based techniques in multifunctional materials characterization

Abstract

The Nuclear Science and its technologies have provided fundamental tools for the understanding of new chemical and physical properties that help the development of the new age of multifunctional materials such as the Perovskites for photovoltaics and fuel cells, the luminescent oxides for lighting and biomarkers and the thin films in semiconductors. One of the most important parameters that defines key properties of the Perovskites to be applied as the cathode in fuel cells is their crystal structure and its point defects (e.g. oxygen vacancies), which can be determined by neutron diffraction (Fig. 1a). Photonic materials like luminescent nanoparticles, once doped with Rare Earth ions, they can emit light when excited with UV/IR, being used in probing bioassays. In this case, the precise determination of Rare Earth concentration by Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis (INAA) leads to ensure the desired spectroscopy properties to prepare efficient probing nanoparticles (Fig.1b). Furthermore, nuclear based techniques such as Rutherford Backscattering Spectrometry (RBS) help us in determining the thickness and the elemental composition of thin films (Fig. 1c), which is not usually easy through other conventional techniques. In other words, the nuclear based techniques applied on materials characterization play a key role in providing a solid understanding on the physical and chemical properties of the condensed matter. In summary, this work presents three cases where the use of the Nuclear Techniques improves the characterization of different materials. All the data shown here were collect and published somehow, as indicated below.