Synthesis and characterization of Gd₂O₂SO₄:Pr³⁺ scintillation material produced by Sol-Gel process for digital imaging system

Scintillation materials are widely used in digital X-ray imaging applications, radiotherapy applications coupled with suitable photoreceptors. Gd₂O₂SO₄ (GOS) scintillator doped with trivalent praseodymium (Pr³⁺) presented high X-ray absorption properties and good spectral compatibility which were utilized extensively for imaging system of X-ray microscopy, soft X-ray phosphor screen for water window. In this study, GOS:0.01Pr³⁺ scintillation material was synthesized by unique sol-gel process which was not previously applied and its characterization properties were investigated. Structure and luminescence properties of GOS:Pr³⁺ were optimized by utilizing X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and luminescence spectroscopy.