Tissue-equivalent organic semiconductors for sustainable radiation detectors

The interest in wearable radiation detection devices for medical, aerospace and industrial purposes has reached an all-time peak: the choice of flexible substrates and tissue equivalent materials, such as organic compounds, shows great potential for such applications, but the fabrication of the devices is undermined by the use of toxic solvents in the production process, which makes it less environmental–friendly and harder to handle for producers. In this thesis the performances of X-ray detectors, fabricated using anisole as a greener solvent alterative for the organic semiconductive layer, are investigated. In parallel, a step towards the full tissue equivalence of the samples was taken by using the organic conductive polymer PEDOT: PSS for the electrodes’ fabrication. Together, these studies proved the possible realization of working, wearable X-ray detectors, using green, tissue equivalent materials. This transition did not compromise the detector’s response capabilities (with device sensitivities up to S = (41 ± 3)· 103 µC · Gy · cm-2) and without showing signs of heavy performance degradation over long periods of time. Overall, this research opens new possibilities for future developments of organic dosimeters that are fully tissue equivalent, while also shedding some light on how state-of-the-art performances can be achieved without the need for the currently in use toxic materials.