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. 2022 Sep 3;12(17):3068.
doi: 10.3390/nano12173068.

Development of Ag-Doped ZnO Thin Films and Thermoluminescence (TLD) Characteristics for Radiation Technology

Hammam Abdurabu Thabit  1 , Norlaili A Kabir  2 , Abd Khamim Ismail  1 , Shoroog Alraddadi  3 , Abdullah Bafaqeer  4 , Muneer Aziz Saleh  5
Affiliations

Development of Ag-Doped ZnO Thin Films and Thermoluminescence (TLD) Characteristics for Radiation Technology

Hammam Abdurabu Thabit et al. Nanomaterials (Basel). .

Abstract

This work examined the thermoluminescence dosimetry characteristics of Ag-doped ZnO thin films. The hydrothermal method was employed to synthesize Ag-doped ZnO thin films with variant molarity of Ag (0, 0.5, 1.0, 3.0, and 5.0 mol%). The structure, morphology, and optical characteristics were investigated using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), photoluminescence (PL), and UV-vis spectrophotometers. The thermoluminescence characteristics were examined by exposing the samples to X-ray radiation. It was obtained that the highest TL intensity for Ag-doped ZnO thin films appeared to correspond to 0.5 mol% of Ag, when the films were exposed to X-ray radiation. The results further showed that the glow curve has a single peak at 240-325 °C, with its maximum at 270 °C, which corresponded to the heating rate of 5 °C/s. The results of the annealing procedures showed the best TL response was found at 400 °C and 30 min. The dose-response revealed a good linear up to 4 Gy. The proposed sensitivity was 1.8 times higher than the TLD 100 chips. The thermal fading was recorded at 8% for 1 Gy and 20% for 4 Gy in the first hour. After 45 days of irradiation, the signal loss was recorded at 32% and 40% for the cases of 1 Gy and 4 Gy, respectively. The obtained optical fading results confirmed that all samples' stored signals were affected by the exposure to sunlight, which decreased up to 70% after 6 h. This new dosimeter exhibits good properties for radiation measurement, given its overgrowth (in terms of the glow curve) within 30 s (similar to the TLD 100 case), simple annealing procedure, and high sensitivity (two times that of the TLD 100).

Keywords: Ag; ZnO; dosimetry; fading; linear response doses; sensitivity; thermoluminescence.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The schematic diagram of the experimental set-up for X-ray irradiation dose using Toshiba KXO-50S X-ray.
Figure 2
Figure 2
The X-ray diffraction pattern of undoped ZnO and Ag-doped ZnO thin films.
Figure 3
Figure 3
FE-SEM images of the (a) pure ZnO and silver dopant at (b) 0.5%; (c) 1%; and (d) 3%, respectively.
Figure 3
Figure 3
FE-SEM images of the (a) pure ZnO and silver dopant at (b) 0.5%; (c) 1%; and (d) 3%, respectively.
Figure 4
Figure 4
The EDX spectrum for undoped and Ag-doped ZnO thin films with typical mapping images.
Figure 5
Figure 5
(a) Room temperature PL spectra of pure ZnO and Ag-doped ZnO 1%, 0.5% mol thin films, and (b) Gaussian deconvolution of Ag-doped ZnO thin film.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Optical transmittance for undoped ZnO and Ag-doped ZnO thin films.
Figure 7
Figure 7
The bandgap for undoped ZnO and Ag-doped ZnO thin films.
Figure 8
Figure 8
The glow curves of Ag-doped ZnO thin films with different concentrations of Ag percentage.
Figure 9
Figure 9
Glow curve of Ag-doped ZnO thin films as a function of heating rate.
Figure 10
Figure 10
TL response of Ag-doped ZnO thin films as a function of heating rate.
Figure 11
Figure 11
The TL response of Ag-doped ZnO thin films with different annealing temperatures.
Figure 12
Figure 12
The TL response of Ag-doped ZnO thin films with different annealing times.
Figure 13
Figure 13
The linearity of response dose irradiated with X-ray (0.1–4) Gy.
Figure 14
Figure 14
Reproducibility of Ag-doped ZnO thin films irradiated 4 Gy with X-ray.
Figure 15
Figure 15
Thermal fading characteristics of Ag-doped ZnO thin films exposed to X-ray.
Figure 16
Figure 16
The optical fading of Ag-doped ZnO thin films exposed to sunlight and fluorescent light.
Figure 17
Figure 17
Percentage depth dose curve of the Perspex phantoms in 30 cm × 30 cm field size at 60 kVp of the X-ray energy with delivery dose 3 Gy.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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