Thermoluminescence properties of nanocrystalline BaSO4 doped with Eu2+ produced by solid state combustion synthesis

Highlights: • Synthesis of BaSO4:Eu by solid-state combustion, an unusual route to synthesize this material. • Optimization of the dopant concentration and annealing temperature to obtain high sensitive TL material. • Low detection Limit for TL response. • TL sensitivity is 5.8 higher than CaF:Tm and 9.4 higher than the response of TLD-100. Nanocrystalline powder samples of barium sulfate doped with Europium (BaSO₄:Eu²⁺) were prepared, at a dopant concentration of 0.02 mol%, by the combustion solid-state technique in air atmospheres. Thermoluminescence (TL) response and dosimetric studies have been carried out for this phosphor in order to characterize it as a radiation dosimeter. The results showed that the TL glow curve of BaSO₄:Eu²⁺present an intense TL peak at 200 °C accompanied by a small shoulder peak at 270 °C. The TL low detection limit for BaSO₄:Eu (0.02 mol%) was found to be 17.8$\mu Gy$ for the gamma radiation emitted by ¹³⁷Cs$.$ The comparative study with the LiF:Mg, Ti (TLD-100) and calcium fluoride doped with thulium CaF₂:Tm dosimeters showed that the TL response of the BaSO₄:Eu(0.02 mol%) synthesized by the combustion solid-state technique is highly sensitive: it is 5.8 times higher than the response of the CaF₂:Tm pellets and 9.4 times higher than the response of TLD-100. The high sensitivity of BaSO4:Eu and its linear dose response indicate that it can be used as sensor for gamma ionizing radiations.