co-doping effects in cdwo4 scintillator thin films as alpha counters: ag and gd cases

The flexible cdwo4 (cwo)-20 wt. % polyester (pes) and cwo: 0.5 at. % ag, 0.5 at. % gd (co-doped cwo)-20 wt. % pes thin films were prepared by direct mixing technique. the composition of thin films was studied by edax analysis. fe-sem and edax-map images exhibited a uniform distribution of cwo and co-doped cwo nanoparticles (nps) in pes. the precision of the monte carlo technique for the computation of alpha particle trajectories in cwo-20wt. % pes and co-doped cwo-20wt. % pes thin films were 55 and 53 µm, respectively, which approximately agreed with fe-sem images. the band gap energy of co-doped cwo increased based on drs results. the scintillation responses of thin films were investigated using a 241am source. co-doping increased the absolute counting efficiency (up to 74%) and decreased the energy resolution (up to 39 %). the mechanical properties, transparency, and gloss of nanocomposites were also investigated. the results indicate that the manufactured nanocomposites could be promising candidates for ionizing radiation detectors, radiometric monitoring, and light-emitting diodes (leds).