Monodispersed YF3:Ce3+/Tb3+/Eu3+ mesocrystals: hydrothermal synthesis and optical temperature sensing behavior

In this work, uniform and monodispersed YF3:Ce3+/Tb3+/Eu3+ mesocrystals were successfully synthesized via a facile hydrothermal route for the first time. The results revealed that the as-obtained products belonged to orthorhombic system and exhibited hollow spindle with an average size of 1.06 mu m in length and 0.50 mu m in width. The possible formation mechanism of hollow YF3 mesocrystals has been proposed. Moreover, the temperature-dependent luminescent properties of mesocrystals are systemically investigated to explore the possible application of the presented sample in optical thermometry. As a consequence, the high sensitivity of 0.2% per K for may make it quite promising candidate as optical thermometry. The study not only gives a reference for the synthesis of other rare earth fluorides mesocrystals, but also provides an significant advance in exploring other novel optical thermometry.