Luminescence and dosimetry investigations of Eu(III) doped Ca2CeVO6 novel double perovskite

A novel composition of vanadate double perovskite Ca<inf>2</inf>CeVO<inf>6</inf> doped with Eu³⁺ was successfully synthesized using combustion synthesis, wherein the doping levels of Eu³⁺ ranged from 1 to 6 mol%. The Rietveld refinement of the powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) data confirmed the orthorhombic structure of the phosphors. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy-dispersive X-ray analysis (EDAX) were employed to investigate the surface morphology and elemental distribution in the phosphor, respectively. Under the excitation at 280 nm and 467 nm, the phosphor exhibited strong down-conversion red photoluminescence (PL) emission, attributed to Eu³⁺ transitions (⁵D<inf>0</inf>-⁷F<inf>J</inf>, where J = 0–3) originating from its 4f states. The intensity of PL emission shows increasing trend with increasing doping concentration. However, exceeding the threshold doping concentrations led reduction in PL intensity due to multipolar interaction effects. Additionally, the Eu³⁺ doped Ca<inf>2</inf>CeVO<inf>6</inf> phosphors were subjected to irradiation with a radioactive ⁹⁰Sr/⁹⁰Y beta source to explore their thermoluminescence (TL) properties. Post-irradiation, the phosphors displayed prominent TL glow curves, with the most intense peak at around 94 °C, followed by peaks at 160 °C and 288 °C. The TL intensity of these peaks exhibited a linear dose response within the dose range of 1 Gy–50 Gy. Besides, the TL fading and reproducibility tests showed satisfactory results. Furthermore, T<inf>max</inf>-T<inf>stop</inf> experiments revealed the presence of three trap centres within the trap depth range of 0.7–2.1 eV in the Ca<inf>2</inf>CeVO<inf>6</inf>:Eu³⁺ phosphor. Additionally, the glow curve deconvolution (GCD) was employed to determine trapping parameters, providing valuable insights into the TL behaviour of the phosphor. Overall, the results suggest that the novel phosphor under study holds promise for its applications in lighting devices and TL dosimetry (TLD).