Thermoluminescence studies of solution combustion synthesized Y2O3:Nd3+ nanophosphor

Thermoluminescence (TL) of neodymium doped yttrium oxide (Y2O3:Nd3+) nanocrystalline phosphors, synthesized by solution combustion route, using disodium ethylene diamine tetra acetic acid (EDTA-Na2) as fuel, was studied at low temperature (<350 °C). Powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) pattern of Y2O3:Nd3+ revealed the cubic crystalline phase and the average crystallites sizes were found to be in the range of 18–24 nm. The morphology of the samples was studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and was foamy and fluffy in nature. Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) revealed prominent absorption with peaks at 3400, 1435, 875 and 565 cm−1. Optical absorption studies showed that the energy gap of the synthesized sample was found to be 5 eV. Thermoluminescence of γ-irradiated Y2O3:Nd3+ showed two well resolved TL glows with peaks at 587 and 628 K and they were analyzed by glow curve shape method and the activation energies were found to be 1.83 eV and 2.2 eV respectively.