PhD Studentship: Development of Ultra-Sensitive, Field-Deployable Radiochromic Films for Real-Time Radiation Detection

This 3.5-year PhD studentship is open to Home (UK) and overseas students. The successful candidate will receive an annual tax-free stipend set at the UKRI rate (£20,780 for 2025/26; subject to annual uplift), and tuition fees will be paid. We expect the stipend to increase each year. The start date is negotiable, from October 2026.

We recommend that you apply early as the advert may be removed before the deadline.

The aim of this project is to develop next-generation radiochromic dye-sensitized polymer films with enhanced sensitivity, stability, and real-time detection capabilities for broad field deployment.

Current radiochromic dosimeters (e.g. silver halide/diacetylene) offer superior performance over traditional scintillators but suffer from post-exposure readout, temperature sensitivity, and degradation over time.1 A novel passive film based on a tetrazolium dye, developed by physics collaborators at QUML, enables visible colour change and smartphone-based quantification, with applications in personal dosimetry, environmental monitoring, drone-based mapping, and nuclear site surveillance.2 However, improvements to the film formulation are urgently needed for field deployment to address:

• Lack of real-time dose readout
• Sensitivity to temperature and environmental conditions
• Ageing and degradation affecting long-term reliability
• Limited sensitivity range (100 μGy to 10 Gy)
We propose to fabricate new, robust films leveraging our existing technologies3,4 through:
• Chemical Modification: Introducing heavier elements and hydrophobic groups to the
tetrazolium dyes utilised to reduce temperature sensitivity and ageing.
• Advanced Dye Systems: Employing redox-active, non-toxic viologen and bismuth dyes to
enhance sensitivity by up to x >103, with added fluorescence detection (a, b, Fig. 1).
• Gold-Based Complexes: Integrating Au-carbene complexes to exploit superior photophysical
properties and modulate photo-response

Applicants should have, or expect to achieve, at least a 2.1 honours degree or a master’s (or international equivalent) in a relevant science discipline (Chemistry, Materials Science).

To apply, please contact the main supervisor; Dr Louise Natrajan - Louise.natrajan@manchester.ac.uk. Please include details of your current level of study, academic background and any relevant experience and include a paragraph about your motivation to study this PhD project.

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