Combinatorial optimization of La, Ce-co-doped pyrosilicate phosphors as potential scintillator materials

A combinatorial method was employed to rapidly screen the effects of La, Ce-co-doping on the luminescent properties of Gd2Si2O7 pyrosilicate using an 8 × 8 library. The candidate formulations (Gd1-x-yLax)2Si2O7:Ce2y were evaluated by luminescence pictures under ultraviolet excitation. The optimal composition was found to be (Gd0.89La0.1)2Si2O7:Ce0.02 after scaled-up preparation and detailed characterization of powder samples, which shows an excellent light output under both ultraviolet and X-ray excitation (about 5.43 times of commercial YAG:Ce powders). The XRD results indicate that the phase structure sequence is tetragonal-orthorhombic-triclinic for different calcination temperatures and doping ions. The (Gd0.89La0.1)2Si2O7:Ce0.02 powder sample also demonstrated excellent temperature stability of luminescence up to 200 °C and a short decay time of several tens of nanoseconds, suggesting that this may represent a new kind of scintillation material, such as single crystals, ceramics, glass, or phosphors.