Role of the Gd2O3 increment on the cerium oxidation state and luminescence behavior in the CeF3 doped silicoborate glass

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the effect of Gd2O3 on the cerium oxidation state and studied their luminescence in the silicoborate glass. Glass samples of a silicoborate glass containing cerium fluoride were prepared by doping the glass with varying amounts of Gd2O3 in the chemical formula xGd2O3: 40Na2O: 5SiO2: (54.5)B2O3: 0.5CeF3 (x = 0.0, 2.5, 5.0, 7.5, and 10.0 mol%). Density and refractive index tend to increase with increasing Gd2O3 content, whereas molar volume decreases. High-resolution XPS spectra confirm the chemical composition in the glass structure and found that the B1s and O1s regions illustrated more BO4 and bridging oxygen, respectively. X-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES) at the Ce LIII-edge was used to investigate the proportion between trivalent cerium (Ce3+) and tetravalent cerium (Ce4+). The ratio of Ce3+/Ce4+ decreased with the addition of Gd2O3. A higher concentration of Gd2O3 content showed more Ce4+ related to the reduction of photoluminescence and X-ray-induced luminescence spectra. Alpha-induced luminescence was used to calculate the light yield of the 7.5Gd:0.5CeF glass. Decay time was measured by pulsed light sources at 286 nm and X-ray excitation.