Thermoluminescence studies of γ-irradiated LiF: Sm3+ nanophosphor

This paper reports the thermoluminescence (TL) and the kinetic parameters studies of Sm3+ doped lithium fluoride (LiF) nanophosphor prepared by chemical co-precipitation method. For the phase purity of the prepared phosphor, X-ray diffraction method has been used and the average crystallite size calculated from XRD peaks using Debye-Scherer's formula is 28 nm, which is further confirmed by TEM results. EDS spectra has been used to confirm the presence of dopant Sm3+ in LiF phosphor. The phosphor has been exposed to different gamma doses from 1kGy -30kGy. TL glow curve for LiF: Sm3+ phosphor consists of single broad peak at 408K and two shoulder peaks at 461K and 545K. TL intensity increases with increase in irradiation dose from 1kGy -30kGy. TL Anal program has been used to study the glow curve. TL kinetic parameters, such as order of kinetics, activation energy and frequency factor have also been calculated for LiF: 0.05Sm(3+) phosphor by using Chen's peak shape method.