Measuring radioenhancement by gold nanofilms: Comparison with analytical calculations

Purpose: To measure radioenhancement by gold nanoparticles (GNPs) using gold nanofilms (GNFs). Methods: GNFs of 20–100 nm thicknesses were prepared. The GNF attached to radiochromic film (RCF) was irradiated using 50, 220 kVp, and 6 MV X-rays. The radiation doses to the active layer of RCF with and without GNF were measured using an optical flatbed scanner and Raman spectrometer to estimate the dose enhancement factor (DEF). For verification, analytical calculations of DEF within the thickness of active layer and the ranges of secondary electrons were carried out. Results: The DEFs for GNFs of 20 to 100 nm thicknesses measured by an optical scanner ranged from 2.1 to 6.1 at 50 kVp and 1.6 to 4.9 at 220 kVp. Similarly, the DEFs measured by Raman spectroscopy ranged from 2.6 to 4.6 at 50 kVp and 2.2 to 4.8 at 220 kVp. The calculated DEFs ranged from 1.5 to 3.6 at 50 kVp and from 1.7 to 4.7 at 220 kVp. Almost no dose enhancement was observed in 6 MV X-ray. The analytical DEFs seemed to be underestimated by averaging local enhancement over the entire active layer. However, analytical DEFs within the ranges of secondary electrons was much higher than the measured macroscopic DEFs. Conclusions: The experimental and analytical approaches developed in this study could quantitatively estimate radioenhancement by GNPs. Due to a short range of low-energy electrons emitted from gold, the microscopic radioenhancement within the ranges of low-energy electrons would be particularly important in a cell.