Nanometer-Sized Boron Loaded Liposomes Containing Fe3O4 Magnetic Nanoparticles and Tributyl Borate and Anti-Albumin from Bovine Serum Antibody for Thermal Neutron Detection.

Wei Zhang,Shuquan Chang,Xiaohong Zhang,Kaikai Wang,Haiqian Zhang,Xiaodan Hu

doi:10.3390/ma14113040

Wei Zhang, Shuquan Chang + Show 4 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/ma14113040

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Abstract

A shortage in the supply of 3He used for thermal neutron detector makes researchers to find 3He alternatives for developing new neutron detectors. Here, we prepared a neutron-sensitive composite liposome with tributyl borate and encapsulating with Fe3O4@oleic acid nanoparticles (Fe3O4@OA NPs), methylene blue (MB), or anti-albumin from bovine serum (anti-BSA). The tributyl borate compound was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). In addition, the morphology, element compositions, and magnetic properties of the composite liposome were investigated with transmission electron microscopy (TEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM), respectively. The results indicated that a typical ellipsoidal magnetic liposome structure was obtained, and the lengths of the minor axis and major axis were 49 ± 1 nm and 87 ± 3 nm, respectively. Under thermal neutron irradiation, the structure of composite liposome was destroyed, and encapsulated reporter molecules were released, which was detected by ultraviolet–visible (UV–vis) spectroscopy and surface plasmon resonance (SPR) technology. The response of this sensor based on a destructive assay shows a good correlation with neutron doses. Besides, the sensor has a neutron to gamma-ray rejection ratio of 1568 at a thermal neutron flux rate of 135.6 n/cm2·s, which makes it a promising alternative to 3He.

Highlights

Neutron detectors are considerably significant for homeland security and civilian application, since neutrons are used for monitoring fissile materials, including those for nuclear weapons in nuclear terrorism. 3He-filled gas counters are generally considered as the gold standard for neutron detection
We reported a surface plasmon resonance (SPR)-based bio dosimeter in combination with hypoxanthine phosphoribosyl transferase (HPRT) genes by detection of the HPRT concentration in the serum of an irradiated mouse [35]
It should be noted that the reaction with high reaction cross section here is only the reaction between thermal neutrons and boron-10(10B)

Summary

Introduction

Neutron detectors are considerably significant for homeland security and civilian application, since neutrons are used for monitoring fissile materials, including those for nuclear weapons in nuclear terrorism. 3He-filled gas counters are generally considered as the gold standard for neutron detection. Some materials with high nuclear reaction cross-sections such as lithium-6 (Li-6) and boron (B-10) were used as the neutron conversion layer. Ryzhikov [4] used the block polymerization method of polystyrene with luminescent dopants and allydodecaborane to obtain a plastic scintillator containing boron, which has a diameter of 25 mm and a height of 25 mm, leading to a significant increase in thermal neutron detection efficiency. It is limited by the nature of scintillator such as the luminescence properties.

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