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Permeation and optical properties of YAG:Er3+ fiber membrane scintillators prepared by novel sol–gel/electrospinning method

  • Original Paper: Functional coatings, thin films and membranes (including deposition techniques)
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Abstract

An electrospinning method for fabrication of the YAG:Er3+ fibrous membrane is developed and the scintillation properties of the obtained membranes were examined. A homogeneous precursor YAG sol was synthesized allowing to control the sol–gel transition. The synthesized precursor allows one to achieve the 5 wt.% level of fiber doping with Er without formation of any undesired crystalline phases. It was found that the relative humidity had a strong impact on the fiber microstructure. The fibers obtained at the low relative humidity level (~30%) had almost straight cylindrical shape with an average diameter of ~590 nm, their surface was smooth. The shape of fibers obtained at the high relative humidity level (~50%) deviated from the straight cylindrical shape and the average diameter was larger, ~1.12 µm. The fluid permeability of membranes, K, obtained at the low relative humidity level was measured using an upward wicking experiment to give K~10−13 m2. The YAG:Er membrane presented a strong green photoluminescence under ultraviolet excitation and intense radioluminescence dominated by emission lines at 398 and 467 nm under the X-ray excitation. The properties of these materials make them promising candidates as porous scintillators for the detection of ionizing radiation of flowing fluids.

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Acknowledgements

This work is supported by the Department of Energy under grant DE-FE00012272 and the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 1207080.

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Correspondence to Luiz G. Jacobsohn or Fei Peng.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Zhaoxi Chen and Artem A. Trofimov contributed equally to this work.

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Chen, Z., Trofimov, A.A., Jacobsohn, L.G. et al. Permeation and optical properties of YAG:Er3+ fiber membrane scintillators prepared by novel sol–gel/electrospinning method. J Sol-Gel Sci Technol 83, 35–43 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10971-017-4387-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10971-017-4387-y

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