Preliminary investigation of polycarbonate-bismuth oxide composite as a sensitive volume of a dose-calibrator for beta-rays

Polycarbonate-bismuth oxide composite has been used as a beta-ray sensor in the previous works. Calculation of two main quantities namely stopping power and range of electrons in this material can be useful to evaluate the optimal thickness of the sensor. Thus, in this study, the range of electrons and stopping power of polycarbonate/bismuth oxide composite for several pure beta-emitters were estimated using the ESTAR program. Simulation findings indicated that the amount of concentration of the heavy metal oxide particles into the composite is an important factor to determine the range and stopping power of the electrons. Also, in the experimental phase, the response of the 50 wt% nanocomposite with thickness of 1 mm against the beta-rays of the P-32 source at the average energy of 695 keV in different activities was measured using an electrometer at a constant voltage of 800 V. Results showed that the response of the sample ranging from 4 to 6 mCi was linear with R² = 0.9757.