Explanation for the Multi-Component Scintillation of Cerium Fluoride Through the Equilibrium and Photophysical Investigation of Cerium(III)-Fluoro Complexes

CeF(3) displays favorable scintillation properties, which have been utilized for decades in various solid-state systems. Its emission undergoes multi-component decays, which were interpreted by lattice defects and so-called intrinsic features herein. This study of the complex equilibria in connection with photophysical behavior of the cerium(III)-fluoride system in solution gave us the possibility to reveal the individual contribution of the [Ce(III)F(x)(H(2)O)(9−x)](3−x) species to the photoluminescence. Spectrophotometry and spectrofluorometry (also in time-resolved mode) were used, and combined with sophisticated evaluation methods regarding both the complex equilibria and the kinetics of the photoinduced processes. The individual photophysical parameters of the [Ce(III)F(x)(H(2)O)(9−x)](3−x) complexes were determined. For the kinetic evaluation, three methods of various simplifications were applied and compared. The results indicated that the rates of some excited-state equilibrium processes were comparable to those of the emission decay steps. Our results also contribute to the explanation of the multi-component emission decays in the CeF(3)-containing scintillators, due to the various coordination environments of Ce(3+), which can be affected by the excitation leading to the dissociation of the metal-ligand bonds.