Thermoluminescence properties of sintered ZnO

•Advances in the characterization of the thermoluminescence features of ZnO concerning dosimetry applications are reported.•The effect of different thermal annealing treatments influences the thermoluminescence properties of ZnO.•The lower detection limit, kinetics parameters, and deconvolution of glow curves of ZnO subjected to different thermal annealings is reported. New pellet-shaped ZnO phosphors were synthesized using a controlled chemical reaction. Some samples were sintered at 1123, 1173 or 1223K during 24h in air, and then exposed to beta particle irradiation in the dose range from 25 to 800Gy to investigate their thermoluminescence (TL) properties. By considering their sensitivity, reproducibility, and fading features, samples sintered at 1173K exhibit the best dosimetric characteristics. From computerized glow curve deconvolution that was carried out using a general order equation, the kinetics parameters were computed, and it was found that the glow curves are composed by six individual TL peaks with kinetics order ranging from 1.2 to 1.8.