New material can sniff out hard-to-detect N-weapons
September 13th, 2011 - 5:30 pm ICT by IANSToronto, Sep 13 (IANS) Scientists have developed new materials which could help handheld devices sniff out hard-to-detect nuclear weapons and materials — even portable nuclear bombs.
“The terrorist attacks of 9/11 heightened interest in this area of security, but the problem remains a real challenge,” said chemistry professor Mercouri G. Kanatzidis, Northwestern University, who led the research.
“We have designed promising semiconductor materials that, once optimized, could be a fast, effective and inexpensive method for detecting dangerous materials such as plutonium and uranium,” said Prof Kanatzidis, the journal Advanced Materials reports.
“Our materials are very promising and competitive,” Kanatzidis said. “With further development, they should outperform existing hard radiation detector materials,” he said, according to a Northwestern statement.
They also might be useful in biomedicine, such as diagnostic imaging.
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Tags: advanced materials, chemistry professor, dangerous materials, detector materials, diagnostic imaging, further development, handheld devices, mercouri, new materials, northwestern university, nuclear bombs, nuclear weapons, plutonium, radiation detector, scientists, semiconductor materials, terrorist attacks, toronto, uranium