Nanostructural processing of advanced thermoluminescent materials

The growing interest in transition ceramic nanoparticles doped with various elements is in constant increasing due to their size-dependent physical properties and its potential applications in thermo-luminescence dosimetry. Zirconium oxide (ZrO2) is a very important semiconductor material having a wide band gap with different interesting applications. Undoped zirconium oxide (ZrO2) and zirconium oxide doped with various elements (ZrO2:VD) have been prepared by thermal treatment of precursor sol-gel glasses. The dependence on annealing temperature and time has been analyzed. The structural analysis of the samples has been made by X-ray diffraction (XRD). The nanocrystals obtained had grain sizes ranging from 8 to 40 nm. Thermally Stimulated Luminescent glow curves were obtained and analyzed.