The effect of Sb₂O₃ on optical, scintillation and service performance of Ce³⁺-ion doped gadolinium aluminosilicate glasses

Ce³⁺-doped gadolinium aluminosilicate glass has great potential as a scintillator in neutron detection and high-energy physics. Ce³⁺-doped gadolinium aluminosilicate glasses with different concentrations of clarifier Sb₂O₃ were prepared by high temperature feeding method, combined with crucible interlocking technology. Ce⁴⁺ ions were reduced to be Ce³⁺ ions by CO atmosphere in an interlocking crucible. The properties of glass with 0.7 mol% content of Sb₂O₃ are the best. The glass has a high density (>6.0 g/cm³) and high refractive index (n_d > 1.74). Compared with the sample without clarifier Sb₂O₃, the light yield of the glass increased to about 2 times. From XPS results, it is concluded that the proportion of bridge and non-bridge oxygen in the glass is 58.83 % and 41.67 % respectively. The composition of bridge oxygen in the glass is high, so there are many silicon-oxygen polyhedrons, and the structure in the glass system is stable, which is beneficial to the light yield. It can be seen from the Ce3d spectrum that there is no third characteristic peak of Ce⁴⁺ at ∼916 eV, indicating that the content of Ce³⁺ is more than that of Ce⁴⁺. The presence of Ce³⁺ in the glass is excellent for scintillation properties.