Journal of Luminescence 230 (2021) 117751 Available online 9 November 2020 0022-2313/© 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Cu, Li and K activated MgO: A metal oxide thermoluminescent synthesized using solution combustion technique for dosimetry V. Guckan a, * , V. Altunal a , A. Ozdemir a , K. Kurt b , Z. Yegingil a a Cukurova University, Physics Department, Saricam, Adana, 01330, Turkey b Mersin University, Physics Department, Yenis ¸ehir, Mersin, 33343, Turkey A R T I C L E INFO Keywords: Magnesium oxide Thermoluminescence Radioluminescence Solution combustion CGCD Initial rise method ABSTRACT A newly developed copper, lithium, and potassium-activated magnesium oxide (MgO:Cu 0.001% ,Li 10% ,K 10% ) using solution combustion synthesis (SCS) method is shown to have promise as a thermoluminescence material. Its sensitivity, dose dependence, spectral distribution of radioluminescence (RL) emission, glow curve characteris- tics and storage stability are found as all favorable for dosimetric purposes. The structural characterization and phase composition were checked using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). Mi- crocrystals of MgO:Cu,Li,K were obtained by sintering material at 1200 ◦ C for 4 h with a mean size of ~450 nm. RL studies showed that the energy traps in the samples are closely associated with two emission bands located at ~750 nm (dominant) and between 320 and 500 nm. It was determined that the TL signals from the stable TL peaks at 214 and 285 ◦ C decreased around 6% after 4 weeks of dark storage. The kinetic parameters were determined with the computerized glow curve deconvolution (CGCD) and initial rise (IRM) methods. 1. Introduction The research on transition metal oxides has a wide application to science and the capacity of being usable in many areas including bio- sensing, virus detecting, environmental protection, and medical radia- tive treatment [1–3]. Among various metal oxides, magnesium oxide (MgO) is a functional metal oxide that has been widely used in many areas from electronic sensing devices to paint [4], toxic waste remedi- ation [5,6], bactericides [7], removing fuoride or heavy metal from water [8], insulators in crucibles and refractory materials [9,10] and superconductors [11]. MgO has also attracted attention within the radiation dosimetry in- dustry due to having a relatively simple structure, an E g = 7.8 eV wide- bandgap [12–15], and a Z eff = 10.8 low effective atomic number [13]. Since its availability in single crystal form and proposal to be used in TL dosimetry [16], the adoption of this material for TL dosimeter (TLD) applications has been slowly progressing. Although the interest in this material was due to its potential use as a UV dosimeter [17] and in neutron dosimetry [18,19], there has been a tendency against its use as a commercial dosimetric material due to its radiation damage properties. Besides its potential as a dosimetric material, its optical properties and utility as a laser host are its other features of interest. It has been reported that MgO has some disadvantages as a dosimeter (ex: lack of tissue equivalency, relatively low TL sensitivity and highly variable TL properties). All these results may be a source of the diffculty that MgO has experienced in becoming adopted as a TL dosimeter in widespread use. One of the oldest publications on MgO was by Thomas and Houston (1964) [16] studying correlation between optical absorption and ther- moluminescence. The defect structure and luminescence mechanism of MgO as a metal oxide were reviewed in 1984 by Las and Stoebe [20]. They studied the defects and impurities together with TL mechanisms and luminescent characteristics in UV, X, gamma, neutron, and electron irradiated MgO. In various studies, different trapping centers and TL glow curves were obtained from doped MgO, using various concentra- tions of lanthanides and metal ions. The authors of these studies emphasized that the dosimetric features of the MgO have the potential to be compared with commercial TLDs and OSLDs [13–15]. TL intensities are highly dependent on defect structure and charge capture levels caused by impurities in the bandgap. It is not possible to show a specifc glow curve shape for undoped MgO because of its strong dependence on the origin of the material. For this reason, a wide variety of TL glow curves for undoped MgO has been reported [21]. A persistent TL peak at low temperatures, relatively low TL sensitivity, and lack of reproducibility of the TL signal were cited as the main problem for * Corresponding author. E-mail address: veysiguckan@gmail.com (V. Guckan). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Luminescence journal homepage: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jlumin https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jlumin.2020.117751 Received 1 July 2020; Received in revised form 29 October 2020; Accepted 2 November 2020