Bismuth Vacancy-Induced Enhancement of Luminescence Intensity and Irradiation Resistance for Bi₄Ge₃O₁₂

Abstract

Bi4Ge3O12 (BGO) is a traditional scintillator, widely used in high-energy physics and nuclear medicine. However, it not only suffers from low scintillation intensity but also tends to be damaged by high-energy rays. Herein, we prepare pure-phase BGO materials enriched with Bi vacancies by rationally reduced Bi content, showing significantly enhanced luminescence intensity and irradiation resistance ability. The optimized Bi3.6Ge3O12 shows 178% of luminescence intensity compared to BGO. After 50 h of ultraviolet irradiation, Bi3.6Ge3O12 possesses ∼80% of original luminescence intensity, much superior to the 60% for BGO. The existence of the Bi vacancy is identified by advanced experimental and theoretical studies. The mechanism studies show the Bi vacancies could cause the symmetry destruction of the local field around the Bi3+ ion. It enhances scintillation luminescence by increasing the probability of radiative transition while resisting nonradiative relaxation caused by irradiation damage. This study initiates vacancy-induced performance enhancement for inorganic scintillators.

Stimulated-source-independent persistent luminescence phosphor Sr2Ta2O7:Tb3+, Tm3+ for multi-mode anti-counterfeiting applications

“…If the trap depth is too shallow, the PersL will not last for a long time; on the contrary, no PersL will appear at room temperature for trap levels that are too deep. 31 According to previous results, a strong TL peak located at the range of 50–100 °C was necessary for phosphors with PersL. 32 To confirm the appearance of defects or traps, the TL spectra of STO, STO:0.1%Tb 3+ , STO:0.5%Tb 3+ , and STO:0.9%Tb 3+ are displayed in Fig.…”

Recent Advances in Fast-Decaying Metal Halide Perovskites Scintillators

“…Scintillators can absorb ionizing radiation and convert it into visible photons and have been widely applied in security inspection, nuclear physics, medical diagnosis, and other fields. , With the growing demand for radiation detection, the requirements for scintillators are increasing . Designing ultrabright and ultrafast scintillators has been a primary goal in this field since high light yield can realize detection at low irradiation dosage; ultrafast decay time can realize good time resolution and response rate of detectors .…”