Synthesis and characterization of thermoluminescent Li2B4O7 nanophosphor

Lithium borate (Li2B4O7) is a low Zeff, tissue equivalent material that is commonly used for medical dosimetry using the thermoluminescence (TL) technique. Nanocrystals of lithium borate were synthesized by the combustion method for the first time in the laboratory. TL characteristics of the synthesized material were studied and compared with those of commercially available microcrystalline Li2B4O7. The optimum pre-irradiation annealing condition was found to be 300 °C for 10 min and that of post-irradiation annealing was 300 °C for 30 min. The synthesized Li2B4O7 nanophosphor has very poor sensitivity for low doses of gamma up to 101 Gy whereas from 101 to 4.5×102 Gy this phosphor exhibits a linear response and then from 4.5×102 to 103 Gy it shows supralinearity. Thermoluminescence properties of Li2B4O7 nanophosphor doped with Cu has also been investigated in this paper. It shows low fading and a linear response over a wide range of gamma radiation from 1×102 to 5×103 Gy. Therefore the synthesized lithium borate nanophosphor doped with Cu may be used for high dose measurements of gamma radiations.