Thermal and photoluminescence properties of hydrated YPO4:Eu3+ nanowires

In this work, we used the solution precipitation route to synthesize Eu3+-doped YPO4 center dot nH(2)O nanowires. The structure, morphology, composition, thermal behavior, and photoluminescence of as-synthesized product were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetric and differential thermal analysis (TG/DTA), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), field emission scanning electron microscopic (FE-SEM) and photoluminescence (PL) spectra. The dependence of the structure, morphology, composition and luminescent properties on the thermal treatment was investigated. The results indicate that the aqueous synthesis has a better control on the structure, morphology, composition of the products, and that the heat treatment induces the transitions of the structure, composition, and luminescent properties. (c) 2007 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.