Effect of heating rate on thermoluminescence characteristics of Y₂O₃ nanoparticles

Abstract

The present paper reports the results of heating rate dependencies of thermoluminescence (TL) peaks observed for Y2O3 nanoparticles in the below room temperature region. TL glow curve presented six peaks around 62.5, 91.3, 114.5, 162.7, 196.0 and 214.9 K for heating rate of 0.4 K/s. The increase of heating rate resulted in increase in peak maximum temperature and decrease in peak maximum intensity as expected according to theoretical information. Peak maximum temperature-heating rate dependencies of observed peaks were analysed according to exponential dependency relation. Curve fit and initial rise methods were applied on thermally cleaned individual peaks and activation energies of associated trap centers, frequency factors and order of kinetics were obtained from the analyses. Activation energy values of the revealed trapping centers found from both methods were in good agreement with each other. Moreover, lattice parameters, crystalline size and micro-strain of nanoparticles were investigated by means of x-ray diffraction measurements.