Open Access
How to translate text using browser tools
21 October 2015 A Simple Model to Quantify Radiolytic Production following Electron Emission from Heavy-Atom Nanoparticles Irradiated in Liquid Suspensions
Nathan Wardlow, Chris Polin, Balder Villagomez-Bernabe, Fred Currell
Author Affiliations +
Abstract

We present a simple model for a component of the radiolytic production of any chemical species due to electron emission from irradiated nanoparticles (NPs) in a liquid environment, provided the expression for the G value for product formation is known and is reasonably well characterized by a linear dependence on beam energy. This model takes nanoparticle size, composition, density and a number of other readily available parameters (such as X-ray and electron attenuation data) as inputs and therefore allows for the ready determination of this contribution. Several approximations are used, thus this model provides an upper limit to the yield of chemical species due to electron emission, rather than a distinct value, and this upper limit is compared with experimental results. After the general model is developed we provide details of its application to the generation of HO through irradiation of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs), a potentially important process in nanoparticle-based enhancement of radiotherapy. This model has been constructed with the intention of making it accessible to other researchers who wish to estimate chemical yields through this process, and is shown to be applicable to NPs of single elements and mixtures. The model can be applied without the need to develop additional skills (such as using a Monte Carlo toolkit), providing a fast and straightforward method of estimating chemical yields. A simple framework for determining the HO yield for different NP sizes at constant NP concentration and initial photon energy is also presented.

©2015 by Radiation Research Society.
Nathan Wardlow, Chris Polin, Balder Villagomez-Bernabe, and Fred Currell "A Simple Model to Quantify Radiolytic Production following Electron Emission from Heavy-Atom Nanoparticles Irradiated in Liquid Suspensions," Radiation Research 184(5), 518-532, (21 October 2015). https://doi.org/10.1667/RR14059.1
Received: 24 February 2015; Accepted: 1 September 2015; Published: 21 October 2015
Back to Top