Calcination effects on europium doped zinc oxide as a luminescent material synthesized via sol-gel and precipitation methods

• Published in: Journal of alloys and compounds 2020-05, Vol.823, p.153878, Article 153878
• Main Authors: Guckan, V., Altunal, V., Ozdemir, A., Tsiumra, V., Zhydachevskyy, Ya, Yegingil, Z.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Europium; Europium (Eu); Heating rate; Linearity; Morphology; Nanocrystals; Pellets; Phase composition; Photoluminescence; Photoluminescence (PL); Precipitation; Roasting; Scanning electron microscopy; Sol-gel; Sol-gel processes; Synthesis; Thermoluminescence; Thermoluminescence (TL)/Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dosimetry; Wurtzite; X-ray diffraction; Zinc oxide; Zinc oxide (ZnO); Zinc oxides
• ISSN: 0925-8388; 1873-4669
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jallcom.2020.153878

This work is aimed at the determination of the preferential calcination conditions for maximum thermoluminescence (TL) and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) emissions of europium doped zinc oxide (ZnO:Eu) pellets after exposure to β-particles when they are synthesized using the precipitation and sol-gel methods, in micro/nanoscales. The verification of the photoluminescence (PL) signals were investigated. The calcination temperature range of 800–1200 °C and the calcination times between 2 h and 24 h were applied in the production of ZnO:Eu pellets. The phase composition and morphology of the samples were studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The transmittance measurements were carried out by Fourier transformed infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy to understand the vibrational properties of ZnO:Eu nanocrystals. In the XRD and SEM patterns, the formation of hexagonal wurtzite phase of ZnO was observed. It was observed that the samples exhibited a weak green emission when the excitation wavelength is 350 nm. In addition, the ZnO:Eu pellets exhibited two sharp peaks at 579 and 615 nm which related to the Eu transitions. The PL intensities dropped with the increasing calcination temperatures. The TL peaks settled at 130 and 300 °C with 5 oCs−1 heating rate, were found similar to each other when the pellets calcined using different temperatures and times. β-dose linearity extended from 1 Gy to 0.2 kGy for all of the studied samples. •The synthesis of ZnO powders using the sol-gel and precipitation methods.•The phase composition and morphology analyzes of ZnO:Eu.•The effects of calcination conditions on structures and luminescence characteristics of the synthesized materials.•PL, TL and OSL studies of europium doped ZnO ceramic.