2025

ACS Omega

Journal year: 2025 | Journal volume: vol. 10 | Journal number: iss. 19

scientific article

english

EN This study explored the influence of Sc3+ ions incorporation on the structural, vibrational, luminescent, and scintillation properties of Pr3+-doped Lu3(Al, Sc)2.5Ga2.5O12 garnet crystals. Addressing the limited research on Sc-admixed and Pr3+ doped garnet systems, this work successfully demonstrated the crystallization of garnet crystals from the melt, overcoming the substantial atomic mismatch between Sc and Al while preserving the thermodynamic stability of the garnet phase. Importantly, Sc-admixing enhanced atomic homogeneity and allowed for increased doping concentrations of Pr3+ ions, which is crucial for tailoring the functional properties of advanced optical materials. The trap depths ranged from 1.63 eV (deep traps) to 0.22 eV (shallow traps) across all samples, with frequency factors predominantly between 1 × 107 and 1 × 1011 s−1, consistent with first-order thermoluminescent kinetics. From a materials design perspective, Sc3+ ions substitution induced beneficial host lattice disorder, enhancing the emission intensity of 4f15d11 → 4f2 interconfigurational and 4f2 → 4f2 intraconfigurational transitions. This effect highlighted the potential of Sc as a promising substituent for enhancing the luminescence intensity of rare earth elements. Synchrotron radiation experiments provided insights into the impact of Sc on band gap energy and energy transfer efficiency toward Pr3+ ions offering new opportunities for engineering scintillators and phosphors with tunable optical properties.

08.05.2025

19817 - 19831

https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsomega.5c01062

CC BY (attribution alone)

open journal

final published version

at the time of publication

70