Luminescence properties of nanocrystalline Mg₂ P₂ O₇ :Eu phosphor

Thermoluminescence (TL) measurements were carried out on europium (Eu) doped magnesium pyrophosphate (Mg₂ P₂ O₇ ) nanopowders using gamma irradiation in the dose range of 0.1 to 3 kGy. The powder samples were successfully synthesized by chemical co-precipitation synthesis route. The formation and crystallinity of the compound was confirmed by powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) pattern. The estimated particle size was found to be in nanometer scale by using Debye Scherer's formula. A scanning electron microscopy (SEM) study was carried out for the morphological characteristics of as synthesized Mg₂ P₂ O₇ :Eu phosphor. Photoluminescence (PL) study was carried out to confirm the presence of the rare-earth ion and its valence state. The TL analysis of synthesized samples were performed after the irradiation of Mg₂ P₂ O₇ :Eu with cobalt-60 (⁶⁰ Co) gamma rays. The high and low intensity peaks of TL glow curve appeared at around 400 K, 450 K, 500 K and 596 K respectively. The appreciable shift in peak positions has been observed for different concentrations of Eu ion. The trapping parameters, namely activation energy (E), order of kinetics (b) and frequency factor (s) have been determined using thermal cleaning process, peak shape (Chen's) method and glow curve deconvolution (GCD) functions.