The H2O/D2O isotope effect in crystalline lanthanide sulfates at photo-, radio-, and triboluminescence

• Deuterosubstitution does not affect the luminescence maxima positions of Ln3+.
• Luminescence intensity increases at replacing H with D in crystallohydrates.
• OH∗ and OD∗ are formed in decomposition reactions of crystallization H2O and D2O.
• Isotope effect can be used to improve characteristics of TL-sensors.

We comparatively studied the H2O/D2O isotope effect of lanthanide sulfate crystallohydrates on photo-, radio-, and triboluminescence and lifetimes of the excited Ln3+ ions. Replacing H2O by D2O leads to an increase in the luminescence intensity whereas this process does not affect the maxima positions in photo-, radio-, and triboluminescence spectra. This isotope effect agrees with the known concepts of changes in luminescence quantum yields of the Ln3+ ions being the main emitters. The bands of OH and OD radicals arise in triboluminescence spectra of lanthanide sulfate crystallohydrates (with H2O or D2O) registered in argon atmosphere in UV region. This supports the proposition that water destruction occurs at the degradation of the crystallohydrates.