Development of new technology for the manufacturing of
nanocrystalline silicate scintillation materials
Nikoloz Jalabadze*, Roin Chedia, Tengiz Kukava and Lili Nadaraia
Georgian Technical University, 77, Kostava St., Tbilisi 0175, Georgia
Quality and reliability of the provided scientific researches were greatly enhanced by
using Ce-doped lutetium silicates. Lutetium silicates LSO and LPS are usually applied in
scintillators in the form of single crystals. Despite of the fact that using of these materials
counts rather a long period, the works on advancing the manufacturing technologies with
the goal to improve performance of these materials are still in progress. A new
technology for manufacturing of lutetium silicates has been developed offering
nanocrystalline scintillators instead of single crystalline ones. The offered technology is
based on sol-gel method (Fig.1a) which makes it possible to fabricate mono-phase
scintillation materials in the form of nanocrystals (Fig.1b,c). The developed technology
provides preparation of scintillation materials not only from the widely spread
tetraethoxycilan but also from various other silicon-contained compounds. The
technology ensures phase purity that being very important for the manufacturing of
Fig. 1. Scheme of the technology for manufacturing of lutetium silicate scintillation materials (a);
diffraction patterns of the nanocrystalline LSO (b) and LPS (c) samples.
materials with high performance. The obtained lutetium oxyortho- and pyrosilicate are
characterized with high stability and there have not been detected any events of their
inter-transferring phenomenon even at high temperatures. Compaction of scintillation
powders in massive samples are realized with the help of an original device the principle
of which is based on the method of Spark Plasma Synthesis (SPS). Using of optimal
modes makes possible to retain nanostructural condition in the obtained massive samples.
* corresponding author e-mail: Jalabadze@gtu.ge