Luminescence properties of Ce-doped oxyorthosilicate nanophosphors and single crystals

In this work we investigate and compare the thermoluminescence (TL) and related luminescent properties of cerium-doped Lu2SiO5 (LSO), Gd2SiO5 (GSO), and Y2SiO5 (YSO) nanophosphors prepared by solution combustion synthesis (SCS) to the properties of their single crystal counterparts. Photoluminescence emission and excitation spectra were obtained for comparison with TL and radioluminescence (RL) emission bands. We then compared the structure and intensity of TL curves, RL intensity, and afterglow at room temperature and investigated the trapped charge stability (revealed by TL). The results showed that the SCS technique is capable of producing scintillating materials with less afterglow and RL output comparable to single crystals. The nanophosphor samples also showed lower TL intensities than their single crystal counterparts, which points to a lower concentration of trapping centers. These results demonstrate the potential of nanophosphors produced by SCS for use as scintillators.