Highly luminescent cerium-doped YSO/ LSO microcrystals prepared via room temperature sol-gel route

Luminescent properties of cerium-doped yttrium oxyorthosilicate (Y2SiO5; YSO) and lutetium oxyorthosilicate (Lu2SiO5; LSO) prepared by a room-temperature sol-gel route were studied and compared to those of YSO and LSO single crystals. Structural changes in the samples during calcination were also studied by X-ray diffraction and differential thermal analysis. Radioluminescence spectra of the samples show comparable emission intensity with the bulk materials. Photoluminescence decay measurements were used to investigate the decay characteristics of the prepared powders. Changes in luminescent properties after the reduction of particle size by grinding in a ball mill were also demonstrated on the YSO:Ce3+ sample. Acceleration of the faster component of the decay time from 7.1 ns to 6.2 ns was observed. Prepared YSO:Ce3+ and LSO:Ce3+ powders are suggested to be good candidates for fast imaging or other applications.