Influence of halide flux on the crystallinity, microstructure and thermoluminescence properties of CdSiO3:Co2+ nanophosphor

CdSiO3:Co2+ (1–7 mol %) nanophosphors have been prepared via solution combustion method with post calcination at 800 °C for 2 h for the first time. The formation of expected monoclinic phase was investigated by Powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) measurements. The effect of different fluxes like NaF, NaCl, NH4F and NH4Cl on the crystallinity, phase and morphology of CdSiO3 was investigated in detail. The crystallinity of the samples can be greatly enhanced by using fluxes rather than increasing the calcination temperature. Scanning electronic micrograph (SEM) image shows that the powder morphologies are highly influenced by flux addition. The addition of 2 wt% of fluxes would drastically enhance the crystallinity when NaCl, NH4F and NH4Cl fluxes are used. A well resolved single thermoluminescent glow peak at ∼170 °C was recorded for all the samples. Among all the halide fluxes, NaCl flux was found to be the potential one in enhancing the TL peak intensity along with crystallinity.