Self‐reduction of Eu <sup>3+</sup> to Eu <sup>2+</sup> in europium‐doped Li <sub>2</sub> B <sub>4</sub> O <sub>7</sub> glass prepared in air
Xin‐Yuan Sun, Xian‐Chao Le, Zhuohao Xiao, Xuhai Shi, Wenfeng Wang, Zuofu Hu, Qingmei Yang, Rongfei Wei, Hai Guo
Abstract
Abstract Motivated by the detection of neutrons, europium‐doped Li 2 B 4 O 7 glasses enriched with both lithium and boron elements with high cross‐section capture were developed. A highly effective method of realizing the self‐reduction of Eu 3+ to Eu 2+ ions in europium‐doped Li 2 B 4 O 7 glasses prepared by high temperature melt‐quenching technology in air was revealed. The self‐reduction of Eu 3+ to Eu 2+ ions can be easily achieved by the partial replacement of B 2 O 3 with BN within 2 mol% concentration. And the effect of partially replacing B 2 O 3 with BN on the optical properties of europium‐doped Li 2 B 4 O 7 glass are systematically studied by transmittance, photoluminescence, and radioluminescence spectra, together with the luminescence decay curves.