Recent Advances in Hydrogel-Based Sensors Responding to Ionizing Radiation

Abstract

Ionizing radiation and its applications are widely spread throughout life. Similar to many other things, both the positive and negative aspects of ionizing radiation should always be kept in mind. For example, a proper radiation dose can be delivered to tumor tissue to kill malignant cells in radiotherapy. On the other hand, exceeding this dose can damage the normal tissues of a human organism. Therefore, the application of sensors for measuring ionizing radiation doses is of utmost importance in many fields, especially in cancer therapy. Traditional dosimeters, such as ionization chambers, silicon diodes and thermoluminescence dosimeters, are widely used. However, they have limitations in certain aspects. Hydrogel-based sensors (or dosimeters) for measuring ionizing radiation doses attract extensive attention for decades due to their equivalence to living tissue and biocompatibility. In this review, we catalog hydrogel-based dosimeters such as polymer, Fricke, radio-chromic, radio-fluorescence and NPs-embedded dosimeters. Most of them demonstrate desirable linear response and sensitivity regardless of energy and dose rate of ionizing radiation. We aim to review these dosimeters and their potential applications in radiotherapy as well as to stimulate a joint work of the experts from different fields such as materials science, chemistry, cancer therapy, radiobiology and nuclear science.

Investigation of Colored Film Indicators for the Assessment of the Occasional Radiation Exposure

“…Different dose registration systems based on radiation-induced physical phenomena and chemical reactions in detector materials are used, such as gas filled detectors (G-M counters), optically-stimulated luminescence (OSL), thermoluminescence (TL) and radioluminescence (RL) detectors [ 1 ], or chemical dosimeters [ 2 , 3 , 4 ] and others. A number of publications discussing hydrogel-based sensors (Fricke, radio-chromic, radio-fluorogenic gel dosimeters) [ 5 ] has increased significantly during the last decades due to the fact that gel sensors are active detectors and indicate irradiation-specific visual changes of their optical characteristics.…”

Radiation Dosimetry by Use of Radiosensitive Hydrogels and Polymers: Mechanisms, State-of-the-Art and Perspective from 3D to 4D

“…The reader is also referred to other review-type papers on gel dosimetry with a stronger emphasis on PVA Fricke gel dosimeters [ 94 ] and on low-energy radiation dosimetry [ 95 ]. Another recent review-paper in this journal covers hydrogel-based non-3D radiation sensors [ 96 ] and the use of polymers in a variety of analytical medical applications [ 97 ].…”

Chemical Overview of Gel Dosimetry Systems: A Comprehensive Review

“…The state-of-the-art of these three groups was carefully reported, and personal perspectives were presented, focusing on the ongoing challenges for high-performance dosimetry systems. Furthermore, a brief revision of hydrogel-based dosimeters for measuring ionizing radiation doses was recently published by Zhang et al [ 13 ]. The authors classified the dosimeters into the following categories: ( i) polymer hydrogel, ( ii) Fricke hydrogel, ( iii) radio-chromic, ( iv) radio-fluorescence, and ( v) NPs-embedded dosimeters, focusing on the main features and drawbacks of their use for routine clinical applications.…”