Innovating dosimetric materials, which includes design and development of new dosimetric materials based on rare earth oxides, is challenging. Yttrium oxide (Y[Formula: see text]O[Formula: see text] is one of the most important sesquioxides and presents crystal characteristics that enable doping with rare earth ions, making it a promising material for radiation dosimetry. This paper reports on the development and measurement of Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (EPR) signal response for Y[Formula: see text]Eu[Formula: see text]O[Formula: see text][Formula: see text]micro rods that have undergone facile low-pressure hydrothermal synthesis and bio-prototyping. As- synthesized powders with narrow sub-micrometer particle size distribution with d[Formula: see text][Formula: see text] of 584 nm exhibited a reactive surface, which led to the formation of stable aqueous suspensions by controlling the surface charge density of particles through alkaline pH adjustment. Ceramic samples with dense microstructure were formed by sintering at 1600 [Formula: see text]C for 4h at ambient atmosphere. Y[Formula: see text]Eu[Formula: see text]O[Formula: see text][Formula: see text]micro rods were irradiated using a [Formula: see text]Co source with doses from 1 to 100 kGy, and EPR spectra were measured at room temperature in X-band microwave frequencies. Sintered samples exhibited linearity of the main EPR signal response from 10 Gy to 10 kGy. Supralinearity was observed for higher doses, which is possibly ascribed to formation of more defects. Using europium as a dopant enhanced the EPR signal of yttrium rods remarkably, due to 4f–4f transitions of the Eu[Formula: see text] ion. These innovative findings make europium-doped yttrium oxide a promising material for radiation dosimetry.
Synthesis, processing and electron paramagnetic resonance response of Y1.98Eu0.02O3 micro rods
