Relationship between scintillation properties and crystallite sizes in Y₂O₃:Eu³⁺

Highlights: • Crystallite size calculation of Y₂O₃:Eu³⁺ 1.0 mol% prepared by Pechini method. • Scintillation properties under soft X-ray excitation. • Dependence of crystallite size and scintillation properties. • Defects creation under X-ray exposure and its effects in nonradiative recombination. - Abstract: This work describes the relation between crystallite size and scintillation properties of Eu³⁺-doped yttrium oxide. Nanocrystalline Y₂O₃:Eu³⁺ 1.0 mol% powders were prepared by Pechini method and thermal treated at 700–1100 °C. The thermal treatment temperature has influence on the crystallite sizes of Y₂O₃:Eu³⁺ nanocrystals and, consequently, on the structural and electronic defects concentration, which contributes to nonradiative recombination routes in scintillation materials. This relationship between the crystallite sizes and scintillation properties was investigated by X-ray diffraction and X-ray excited optical luminescence measurements.