Effect of thermal annealing on the thermoluminescence stability of SrZrO3 synthesized by solid-state reaction.

This work reports on the influence of sintering time on the reproducibility of the thermoluminescence (TL) of SrZrO₃ phosphors synthesized via the solid-state reaction method, using thermal treatments at 1400 °C for 12, 24, and 36 h. The SrZrO₃ orthorhombic phase was confirmed by X-ray diffraction (XRD), and the TL response was characterized after beta particle irradiation. All samples exhibited a similar glow curve structure, with a prominent peak at 252 °C, a temperature suitable for dosimetric applications. The reproducibility of the TL over ten irradiation-readout cycles was strongly dependent on the sintering time. The sample sintered for 24 h showed significant desensitization (24 % signal loss), while the 12 h sample exhibited sensitization (11 % signal gain). The phosphor sintered for 36 h demonstrated the best performance, with excellent TL reusability, showing a variation of only +5.0 % and a standard deviation of 2.3 %, meeting the suitability criteria for practical dosimetry. These results demonstrate that optimizing the thermal annealing time is crucial for developing SrZrO₃-based dosimeters, and that the 36-h synthesis route yields a promising material for radiation monitoring applications.