Photoluminescence, persistent luminescence and thermoluminescence studies of Cr-doped zinc gallogermanate (ZGGO:Cr)

abstract

This paper reports a comprehensive study of single-phase polycrystalline chromium-doped zinc gallogermanate (ZGGO:Cr) synthesised by a high-temperature solid-state reaction, employing photoluminescence (PL), persistent luminescence (PersL) and thermoluminescence (TL) measurements. A bandgap energy of similar to 4.77 eV (260 nm) was estimated by optical reflectance. The ZGGO:Cr luminescence was dominated by a red/near-infrared emission due to Cr3+ optical centres, which displayed well-resolved R1, R2, N1 and N2 lines, and a broad vibronic progression. PL excitation (PLE) data revealed that those centres were preferentially populated via intraionic absorption, being also excited via band-to-band absorption and by a defect excitation band at similar to 0.9 eV below the conduction band, whose origin remains unknown. PersL of more than 10 h was identified and attributed to the N2 Cr3+-related defect. The TL results suggest a continuous distribution of electronic states with activation energies ranging from about 0.7 eV to 1.2 eV. An effective density of states was obtained for different delay times between irradiation and heating, revealing a rapid depopulation for activation energies below similar to 1 eV. In short, this research contributes to a better understanding of traps in ZGGO:Cr and highlights the potential of the Cr3+-related emission in this material for dosimetric purposes, paving the way for developing novel ZGGO:Cr-based devices.

keywords

LONG-PERSISTENT; VISIBLE-LIGHT; PHOSPHOR; DOSIMETRY; ORIGIN

subject category

Materials Science; Physics

authors

Esteves, DM; Batista, MS; Rodrigues, J; Girao, AV; Alves, L; Rodrigues, AL; Dias, MI; Costa, FM; Lorenz, K; Pereira, SO; Monteiro, T; Peres, M

Groups

G3 - Electrochemical Materials, Interfaces and Coatings

Projects

Collaboratory for Emerging Technologies, CoLab (EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES)

CICECO - Aveiro Institute of Materials (UIDB/50011/2020)

CICECO - Aveiro Institute of Materials (UIDP/50011/2020)

Associated Laboratory CICECO-Aveiro Institute of Materials (LA/P/0006/2020)

acknowledgements

This work received support from National Funds from FCT - Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia, I.P.- through the projects UIDB/50025/2020-2023, UIDP/50025/2020-2023 and LA/0037/2020 of the Associate Laboratory Institute of Nanostructures, Nanomodelling, and Nanofabrication - i3N -, and and CICECO - Aveiro Institute of Materials (UIDB/50011/2020, UIDP/50011/2020 and LA/P/0006/2020). INESC MN acknowledges FCT for funding through Plurianual BASE and PROGRAMATICO financing (UID/05367/2020). This work has also received funding from the National funds through FCT under the program grants 2022.05329.PTDC (DOI: https://doi.org/10.54499/2022.05329.PTDC), PTDC/CTM-CTM/3553/2020, UIDB/04349/2020, UID/Multi/04349/2020. D. M. Esteves thanks FCT for the PhD grant (2022.09585.BD). M. S. Batista thanks i3N and FCT for the PhD grant (UI/BD/152567/2022). J. Rodrigues acknowledges FCT for Programme Stimulus of Scientific Employment - Individual Support (grant 2022.00010.CEECIND/CP1720/CT0023), DOI: https://doi.org/10.54499/2022.00010.CEECIND/CP1720/CT0023. A. L. Rodrigues acknowledges FCT for Programme Stimulus of Scientific Employment - Individual Support (grant CEECINST/00043/2021/CP2797/CT0011), DOI: https://doi.org/10.54499/CEECINST/00043/2021/CP2797/CT0011. This study was also carried out as part of project 2023.00054.RESTART, funded by FCT.