OPTICAL MATERIALS, cilt.108, 2020 (SCI-Expanded)
The objective of this work was to investigate the luminescence properties of metal-doped BeO optical ceramics that were efficiently synthesized by the co-precipitation method in the presence of air. BeO nanophosphors individually doped with metal elements: Al, Ca, Mg, Na, Li, K, B, Si, Zn, Sr, In, and Cu in different dopant concentrations (0.1, 0.5, 1 and 5%). The phase formation and morphology of the samples were studied using xray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analyses. The formation of the hexagonal wurtzite phase of BeO was confirmed by XRD data and SEM images showed that BeO ceramics exhibit different surface morphologies and have a narrow size distribution. Similar broad UV emission bands between 200 nm and 450 nm were observed in radioluminescence (RL) analyses of the single-metal doped BeO ceramics. The effect of metal doping on thermoluminescence (TL) and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) signals were investigated to achieve a promising BeO dosimeter for medical dosimetry applications. While Al, Na, K, B, and Zn dopants increased the intensities of sensitivities of TL peaks responsible for traps settled up to 300 degrees C, Ca, Mg, K, B and In dopants significantly increased the intensities of higher-temperature TL peaks located between 300 and 650 degrees C. There was, in addition, an increase in OSL signal intensity of undoped BeO material with Na, Li, K, and Cu dopants by 47%, 37%, 18%, and 28%, respectively. To investigate the feasibility of the dosimetric utility of the studied BeO materials, dose-response, reusability, and fading properties of the promising ceramic dosimeters were investigated in medical applications.