Evaluation of scintillation and PL properties of Ag-doped ZnO translucent ceramics

Abstract The 0.1% Ag-doped ZnO translucent ceramic was synthesized by spark plasma sintering and annealed at 700 °C and 800 °C in the air for 24 h. Photoluminescence (PL) quantum yields ( QY s) and scintillation light yields ( LY s) of the annealed ceramics were increased as compared with the as-prepared ceramic because the annealing reduced self-absorption due to oxygen vacancies. The ceramic annealed at 700 °C indicated the highest LY (7000 ph/5.5 MeV- α ) among the present samples owing to the increase of the PL QY and energy-transfer efficiency from the host to the luminescence centers. In the ceramic annealed at 800 °C, scintillation LY s decreased due to the increment of the number of trap sites.