Thermoluminescence characterization of h-BN powder for neutron dosimetry applications

Neutron radiation has significant implications in numerous fields, such as nuclear power generation, medical radiotherapy and scientific research. But the unique features of neutrons render accurate dose measurements and monitoring. The exceptional structural stability of hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) and the presence of boron has made it a viable option for neutron dosimetry. The present work investigates the thermoluminescence (TL) dosimetric characteristics of neutron irradiated h-BN powder, focusing on its dose-response, glow curve features, linearity index, sensitivity, fading and reproducibility properties according to the standard TL procedure. The findings demonstrate that h-BN presents a clearly defined TL glow curve with a peak-maxima around 245 °C, indicating its potential application in neutron dosimetry covering the dose range of 4–15 Gy. This study reveals that h-BN exhibits greater linearity with sublinear behavior. The TL sensitivity remains almost unaffected by increasing neutron doses and the appropriateness for repeated dose measurements is confirmed by reproducibility experiments, which show high reliability with a standard variation of 2.39 %. Furthermore, after 28 days of irradiation, fading analysis shows minimal signal loss (⁓19 %), demonstrating that charge carriers retain in trap for long period. Moreover, the kinetic parameters were determined through the application of initial rise, glow curve deconvolution, and peak shape methods. The observed extended lifetimes indicate that traps can efficiently retain electron-hole pairs for an extended period, a key feature suitable for TL dosimetry. These accumulated results validate h-BN as a highly stable and effective neutron dosimeter, ideally suited for situations that demand precise and consistent dose measurement.