Cadmium silicate nanopowders for radiation dosimetry application: Luminescence and dielectric studies

Pure cadmium silicate (CdSiO3) nanophosphor was prepared by a low temperature solution combustion technique. In this technique, meso-structured silica was used as silica source. The prepared compounds were well characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), scanning electron microscopy, high resolution transmission electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared and UV–vis spectroscopic techniques. The PXRD peaks of as-formed sample are broad and amorphous in nature. The compound calcined at 800 °C shows pure monoclinic phase, which is the lowest temperature reported so far to obtain in this phase. The average crystallite size for phase pure compound was found to be ∼31 nm. The optical energy band gap of ∼5.6 eV was observed for the compound. Raman spectrum of the sample showed the all possible states of vibrational motions of the prepared samples. The UV irradiated samples with different dose and time with constant heating rate exhibit the thermoluminescence (TL) with a well resolved glow peak at ∼160 °C. The variation of TL intensity with dosage time results that the material was found to be quite useful in radiation dosimetry. The frequency dependent dielectric constant of the prepared sample exhibits high value at low frequency and vice versa.