Ce-doped SiO2 glass as scintillating material: Variation on the synthesis procedure for the improvement of material properties

In this paper different sol gel syntheses strategies are adopted in order to produce Ce - doped silica - glasses scintillators with improved properties. Variations on the synthesis procedure are adopted to reduce the hydroxyl content of the sol gel glass; to this purpose, a fluorine derivative of silicon alkoxide was added in the sol gel reaction. Since a drawback of Ce - doped sol gel glasses is the partial oxidation of Ce3+ to Ce4+ in the matrix probably occurring during the sintering procedure, both Ce - doped xerogel and fluorinated xerogel were treated under reducing atmosphere (H 2:Ar) instead of the usual oxidizing atmosphere. Glasses obtained in such ways are compared with commercial synthetic glasses and with previously produced sol gel samples by spectroscopic IR absorption measurements, and by radio-luminescence experiments.