Hydrothermal Synthesis of YPO4:5%Eu3+ Microspheres

In this study, YPO4:5%Eu3+ microspheres were fabricated by a facile hydrothermal route at 200 degrees C for 10 h in the presence of citric acid. The as-synthesized YPO4:5%Eu3+ particles were characterized by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and photoluminescence spectroscopy. The XRD results reveal that the YPO4:5%Eu3+ particles present a tetragonal structure. The TEM and SEM observations demonstrate that the YPO4:5%Eu3+ particles with uniform spherical morphologies could be obtained at 200 degrees C for 10 h. The growth process was investigated as a function of hydrothermal processing time, and a possible formation mechanism was proposed. The room temperature photoluminescence properties of YPO4:5%Eu3+ microspheres were studied using an excitation wavelength of 228 nm. The emission spectrum displays the bands associated to the D-5(0) -> F-7(J) (J = 1, 2 and 4) electronic transitions characteristics of the Eu3+ cations at a position.