title: Micrometer-level naked-eye detection of caesium particulates in the solid state.
abstract: Large amounts of radioactive material were released from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Japan, contaminating the local environment. During the early stages of such nuclear accidents, iodine I-131 (half-life 8.02 d) is usually detectable in the surrounding atmosphere and bodies of water. On the other hand, in the long-term, soil and water contamination by Cs-137, which has a half-life of 30.17 years, is a serious problem. In Japan, the government is planning and carrying out radioactive decontamination operations not only with public agencies but also non-governmental organizations, making radiation measurements within Japan. If caesium (also radiocaesium) could be detected by the naked eye then its environmental remediation would be facilitated. Supramolecular material approaches, such as host-guest chemistry, are useful in the design of high-resolution molecular sensors and can be used to convert molecular-recognition processes into optical signals. In this work, we have developed molecular materials (here, phenols) as an optical probe for caesium cation-containing particles with implementation based on simple spray-on reagents and a commonly available fluorescent lamp for naked-eye detection in the solid state. This chemical optical probe provides a higher spatial resolution than existing radioscopes and gamma-ray cameras.
authors.affiliation: WPI-International Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics, National Institute for Materials Science, 1-1 Namiki, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0044, Japan; JST, CREST, Sanbancho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 102-0075, Japan.
authors.forename: Taizo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Mori
authors.affiliation: Department of Pure and Applied Chemistry, Tokyo University of Science, 2641 Yamazaki, Noda, Chiba 278-8510, Japan.
authors.forename: Masaaki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Akamatsu
authors.affiliation: WPI-International Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics, National Institute for Materials Science, 1-1 Namiki, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0044, Japan.
authors.forename: Ken
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Okamoto
authors.affiliation: WPI-International Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics, National Institute for Materials Science, 1-1 Namiki, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0044, Japan.
authors.forename: Masato
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sumita
authors.affiliation: WPI-International Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics, National Institute for Materials Science, 1-1 Namiki, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0044, Japan.
authors.forename: Yoshitaka
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tateyama
authors.affiliation: Department of Pure and Applied Chemistry, Tokyo University of Science, 2641 Yamazaki, Noda, Chiba 278-8510, Japan.
authors.forename: Hideki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sakai
authors.affiliation: WPI-International Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics, National Institute for Materials Science, 1-1 Namiki, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0044, Japan; JST, CREST, Sanbancho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 102-0075, Japan.
authors.forename: Jonathan P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Hill
authors.affiliation: Department of Pure and Applied Chemistry, Tokyo University of Science, 2641 Yamazaki, Noda, Chiba 278-8510, Japan.
authors.forename: Masahiko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Abe
authors.affiliation: WPI-International Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics, National Institute for Materials Science, 1-1 Namiki, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0044, Japan; JST, CREST, Sanbancho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 102-0075, Japan.
authors.forename: Katsuhiko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ariga
keywords: 10.11; caesium cation recognition; charge transfer; optical probe; radiocaesium; supramolecular