High-sensitivity ferrous sulfate dosimeters with wide dosimetry range based on fluorescence properties of gold nanoclusters.

With the widespread application of nuclear technologies, radiation dose measurement is important. Ferrous sulfate dosimeters are common chemical dosimeters, but their high detection limit and narrow dosimetry range limit their application in some fields. In this work, we introduce a novel dosimetry approach for ferrous sulfate dosimeters utilizing the fluorescence properties of gold nanoclusters (AuNCs) capped with histidine. The Fe2+ ions in the ferrous sulfate dosimeter are oxidized to Fe3+ ions during irradiation. The presence of Fe3+ ions results in the fluorescence quenching of AuNCs, establishing a correlation between the fluorescence intensity of the dosimeter and irradiation doses. The lowest detection limit of the fluorescence dosimeter was found to be 2 Gy. Moreover, the dose response of the dosimeter showed good linearity within the dose range of 2–400 Gy. The dosimetric sensitivity of the fluorescence dosimeter was 17.9% higher than that of ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy. The results indicate that the dosimetry method utilizing the fluorescence properties of AuNCs significantly improves the detection sensitivity and detection limit of the dosimeter. Our work provides a new dosimetry method for ferrous sulfate dosimeters that can be used in a wider range of irradiation situations. • Fluorescent probes are prepared utilizing nontoxic histidine as ligands. • The lowest detection limit of dosimeters is 2 Gy based on fluorescence dosimetry. • The fluorescence intensity of dosimeters is linear with radiation doses (2–400 Gy). • The detection sensitivity of fluorescence dosimeters improves by 17.9%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]