Investigation of novel Eu doped SrDy2O4 microphosphor for thermoluminescence dosimetry

Herein, we report the thermoluminescence properties of novel SrDy2O4: Eu microphosphor synthesized via facile solid state diffusion method. The phase purity, crystal structure, surface morphology, photoluminescence, and dosimetric properties were examined by XRD, SEM, photoluminescence spectroscopy, and thermoluminescence techniques, respectively. The as-prepared microphosphor revealed an orthorhombic phase having irregular shaped particles with an average size of approximately similar to 1.4-1.6 mu m. The photoluminescence studies showed emission bands in the red region with prominent peaks centered at similar to 594 nm and similar to 625 nm corresponding to D-5(0)-> F-7(1) and D-5(0)-> F-7(2) transitions of Eu3+ ion. The thermoluminescence properties of gamma-irradiated SrDy2O4: Eu phosphors were investigated. The systematic study on optimum concentrations of dopants was performed by varying the Eu concentration from 0.5 to 3 mol %. The favorable thermoluminescence glow curve was obtained for 1% Eu doped SrDy2O4 phosphor at 203 degrees C. The SrDy2O4: 1% Eu phosphor showed a linear TL response in the range from 1 Gy to 4 kGy gamma dose. The whole peak method, variable heating rate method, T-m-T-stop technique and Initial Rise Method (IRM) is carried out for trap level analysis and to experimentally determine the activation energy. The trapping parameters of glow curves i.e. frequency factor (s), order of kinetics (b), etc are estimated by Glow Curve Deconvolution (GCD) method. The potential thermoluminescence dosimetric properties of SrDy2O4: Eu phosphor provides a promising system for high dose radiation and environmental dosimetric application.