New macroporous support for the preparation of plastic scintillation resins

Abstract

<p>PSresins have arisen in the past years as a promising material for the measurement of radioactivity. PSresins are a</p><p>material composed of a PSm support coated with a selective extractant on its surface, allowing the separation and</p><p>measurement. However, for some applications, a capacity problem could be presented due to the flat surface of</p><p>the PSm support. For this reason, the objective of this study has been to prepare a macroporous PSm support that</p><p>allows the preparation of a PSresin for 99Tc with higher capacity than the current existing PSresin. To achieve</p><p>this, two porogens, dodecane and heptane, were studied. Both produce pores on the surface with similar</p><p>diameter, but heptane has the best radiometric characteristics. Several proportions of heptane were studied,</p><p>observing that an increase in the porogen content increased the surface area and PSm diameter, but with a low</p><p>effect on the radiometric characteristics. Finally, PSresin for 99Tc were prepared with these supports. The more</p><p>porous supports could accept a higher quantity of extractant, thereby increasing the capacity of the PSresin,</p><p>without significant effect on the radiometric characteristics or the sample volume at which the extractant starts</p><p>leaching.</p>