Scintillation and photoluminescence investigations of Gd<inf>2</inf>MoB<inf>2</inf>O<inf>9</inf>: CeF<inf>3</inf> phosphors

Abstract

The CeF3 doped Gd2-xMoB2O9 phosphors (where x = 0.00, 0.25, 0.50 and 0.75 mol%) were synthesized by the conventional high-temperature solid-state reaction method at 900 °C for 12 h in air. DSC and TGA analysis executed to study the optimum temperature for sintering. The structural, photoluminescence and X-ray luminescence properties were investigated. The structure of the samples was analyzed by using X-ray diffractometer (XRD). The absorption spectra were analyzed and found that absorption edge increased with the increasing concentration of CeF3. The photoluminescence of phosphors shows the overlapping of excitation and emission peaks in the range of 300 nm–450 nm. These emission peak correspond to the 5d – 4f transitions of Ce3+ ion. The optimum concentration of CeF3 in these phosphors is 0.50 mol% corresponding to maximum emission intensity. The X-ray induced optical luminescence spectra showed a strong emission peak at 411 nm the concentration quenching at 0.75 mol%, which is as efficient as 54.4% compared with bismuth germanium oxide (BGO) crystal. The luminescence decay increased with the increment of CeF3 concentration. From the optical properties investigated, it was found that the phosphors performed a strong and fast luminescence signal which is appropriate for the development of scintillators in X-ray detector devices.