Thermoluminescence studies of manganese doped calcium tetraborate (CaB4O7: Mn) nanocrystal synthesized by co-precipitation method

Abstract

Manganese (Mn) doped bone-equivalent calcium tetraborate (CaB4O7) nanocrystals were synthesized using co-precipitation and thermal treatment techniques. The synthesized nanophosphors are found to possess the monoclinic structure and have the particle size about 9nm. They showed good luminescence quantum efficiency and enough potential for radiation dose measurement in medical and industrial purposes. The variation of dopant concentrations was investigated from 0.1 to 2mol% and it was found that the optimal concentration of 1.4mol% Mn has the highest sensitivity among other concentrations. The results revealed that Mn enhance the thermoluminescence (TL) sensitivity about 80 times higher than the un-doped samples at 1kGy and the TL response over a wide range of doses from 0.05Gy to 2.0kGy increased linearly with increasing the absorbed dose. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd.