Real‐Time Optical Response of Polysiloxane/Quantum Dot Nanocomposites under 2 MeV Proton Irradiation: Luminescence Enhancement of Polysiloxane Emission through Quantum Dot Sensitization

The growing interest toward the development of high‐Z–sensitized organic scintillators is related with the potential possibility to merge the advantages of organic materials with those of inorganics. In fact, organic plastic scintillators offer large‐area applications and fast response at a low cost, yet their performances for high‐energy photons and charged particles are limited by the poor stopping power related with low‐Z materials. The real‐time optical investigation in terms of steady‐state luminescence spectra of polysiloxane/quantum dot (QD) nanocomposite samples under 2 MeV proton irradiation is presented. Results show an increase in the light yield of the polysiloxane samples embedding QDs up to 8% in comparison with the undoped polymer, paving the way for high‐Z sensitization through QDs in polysiloxane‐based active radiation detection systems.