Strong emission from Ce3+ doped gadolinium oxyfluoroborate scintillation glasses matrix

Highlights: • Cerium doped gadolinium borate oxide and oxyfluoride were synthesized. • Photoluminescence and radioluminescence show the strongest emission for 0.3 mol% CeF₃ doped glasses. • The ratio of Ce³⁺/Ce⁴⁺ in oxyfluoride glass is higher than oxide glass. • Oxyfluoride glass show fast luminescence decay time compared to oxide glass. • X-ray scintillation efficiency of oxyfluoride glass is 45.89% of reference BGO crystal. The gadolinium oxide and oxyfluoride borate glasses doped with cerium ion (Ce³⁺) were studied comparatively in the physical, glass network, optical, luminescence and scintillation properties. The average values of glass density and molar volume represent that oxide glass is heavier and possesses larger molar-size than oxyfluoride glass. FTIR measurement confirms the main glass network of both glass series are based on BO₄ unit, and the OH group amount in oxide glass is higher than in oxyfluoride glass. Oxide and oxyfluoride glasses in this work absorb the photons in ultraviolet and initial visible light region proved by the absorption spectra. The ultraviolet, with 275 and 310 nm wavelengths, and X-ray radiation were used to excite the glass samples to investigate the luminescence spectra. The emission broad bands around 300 – 500 nm (excited by ultraviolet) and 350 – 650 nm (excited by X-ray) exhibit the luminescence under electronic transition of Ce³⁺. The emission intensity of oxyfluoride glass is beyond intensity of oxide glass due to less amount of OH group vibration. The X-ray integral-scintillation efficiency of CeF₃ doped oxide and oxyfluoride glass is 8.98% and 45.89%, respectively, compared to BGO crystal. The oxyfluoride borate glasses doped with Ce³⁺ performs the high potential for using as a glass scintillator in the X-ray and possibly in the neutron scintillation detector.