Scintillator materials convert high-energy radiation into photons in the ultraviolet to visible light region for radiation detection. In this review, advances in X-ray emission dynamics of inorganic scintillators are presented, including inorganic halides (alkali-metal halides, alkaline-earth halides, rare-earth halides, oxy-halides, rare-earth oxyorthosilicates, halide perovskites), oxides (binary oxides, complex oxides, post-transition metal oxides), sulfides, rare-earth doped scintillators, and organic-inorganic hybrid scintillators. The origin of scintillation is strongly correlated to the host material and dopants. Current models are presented describing the scintillation decay lifetime of inorganic materials, with the emphasis on the short-lived scintillation decay component. The whole charge generation and the de-excitation process are analyzed in general, and an essential role of the decay kinetics is the de-excitation process. We highlighted three decay mechanisms in cross luminescence emission, exitonic emission, and dopant-activated emission, respectively. Factors regulating the origin of different luminescence centers controlling the decay process are discussed.

The Ge-doped Y ₂ O ₃ :Ho,Yb phosphor tunes the G/R ratio, and the G/R ratio has a higher absolute temperature sensitivity.

This article reviews the scientific understanding and progress of interfacing plasmonic particles with ferroelectrics in order to facilitate the absorption of low-energy photons and their conversion to chemical fuels. The fundamental principles of hot carrier generation and charge injection are described for semiconductors interfaced with metallic nanoparticles and immersed in aqueous solutions, forming a synergistic juncture between the growing fields of plasmonically-driven photochemistry and semiconductor photocatalysis. The underlying mechanistic advantages of a metal-ferroelectric vs. metal-nonferroelectric interface are presented with respect to achieving a more optimal and efficient control over the Schottky barrier height and charge separation. Notable recent examples of using ferroelectric-interfaced plasmonic particles have demonstrated their roles in yielding significantly enhanced photocurrents as well as in the photon-driven production of molecular hydrogen. Notably, plasmonically-driven photocatalysis has been shown to occur for photon wavelengths in the infrared range, which is at lower energies than typically possible for conventional semiconductor photocatalysts. Recent results thus demonstrate that integrated ferroelectric-plasmonic systems represent a potentially transformative concept for use in the field of solar energy conversion.