Patent ID: 7449128

Claim:
A method of making a scintillator nanomaterial comprising a plurality of nanoparticles, wherein said plurality of nanoparticles comprises at least one dopant and one of a metal oxide, a metal phosphate, a metal silicate, a metal hafnate, a metal aluminate, and combinations thereof, wherein said metal is one of an alkali earth metal, a lanthanide, and a transition metal, the method comprising the steps of: (a) providing at least one metal precursor and at least one dopant precursor; (b) forming a homogenized precursor solution of the at least one metal precursor and the at least one dopant precursor; (c) adding a fuel and optionally at least one of a phosphate source, a silicate source, a hafnate source, and an aluminate source to the homogenized precursor solution; (d) removing water from the homogenized precursor solution to leave a reaction concentrate; and (e) igniting the reaction concentrate to form a powder comprising said plurality of nanoparticles.