Properties of the (Y0.75Gd0.25)(2)O-3 : Eu3+ scintillating nanopowder

Abstract

Yttrium-gadolinium-oxide phosphors are regarded promising host for many important optical applications, for example in medical diagnostic X-ray systems and plasma displays. In this work, we investigated the procedure for (Y0.75Gd0.25)(2)O-3:Eu3+ nanopowder synthesis using polymer complex solution (PCS) method based on polyethylene glycol (PEG) as fuel. Detailed information, on both the structure and luminescence, are obtained using X-ray powder diffraction, electron microscopy and luminescence spectroscopy. The synthesized powder consists of nanoparticles of about 36 nm in size, and has excellent structural ordering in cubic bixbyte structure (space group Ia3). Unit cell parameter, ionic coordinates, crystal coherence size and microstrains are determined from Rietveld analysis. Luminescence emission measurements show characteristic transition of the trivalent europium ion incorporated into insulating host. Splitting of the Stark components of the F-7(1) manifold is presented. D-5(0), D-5(1) and D-5(2) decay time values are measured to obtain information on different kinetic processes occurring for these three emitting levels.