64Cu, a powerful positron emitter for immunoimaging and theranostic: Production via natZnO and natZnO-NPs

64Cu is one of the most beneficial radionuclide that can be used as a theranostic agent in Positron Emission Tomography (PET) imaging. In this current work, 64Cu was produced with zinc oxide nanoparticles (natZnONPs) and zinc oxide powder (natZnO) via the 64Zn(n,p)64Cu reaction in Tehran Research Reactor (TRR) and the activity values were compared with each other. The theoretical activity of 64Cu also was calculated with MCNPX-2.6 and the cross sections of this reaction were calculated by using TALYS-1.8, EMPIRE-3.2.2 and ALICE/ASH nuclear codes and were compared with experimental values. Transmission Electronic Microscopy (TEM), Scanning Electronic Microscopy (SEM) and X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) analysis were used for samples characterizations. From these results, it's concluded that 64Cu activity value with nanoscale target was achieved more than the bulk state target and had a good adaptation with the MCNPX result.