Uniform and well-dispersed GdVO4 hierarchical architectures: hydrothermal synthesis, morphology evolution, and luminescence properties

Abstract

GdVO₄ nano/microcrystals with different morphologies were successfully synthesized via an efficient and facile hydrothermal process using trisodium citrate (Na₃Cit) as the chelating ligand. X-Ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), X-ray photoelectron spectra (XPS), fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), photoluminescence (PL) and cathodoluminescence (CL) spectra were employed to characterize the samples. By tuning the reaction time, vanadium sources, and Na₃Cit content, GdVO₄ samples with different morphologies and sizes have been successfully synthesised. The possible formation mechanism for these diverse architectures is proposed on the basis of time-dependent experiments. Under ultraviolet (UV) and low-voltage electron beam excitation, GdVO₄ : Ln³⁺ (Ln³⁺ = Eu, Dy, and Sm) phosphors show strong light emissions with different colors coming from various Ln³⁺ ions due to an efficient energy transfer from vanadate groups to the dopants. The ability to generate GdVO₄ nano/microstructures with diverse shapes, and multicolor emission provides a great opportunity for systematically evaluating their luminescence properties, as well as fully exploring their applications in light emitting phosphors, advanced flat panel display, field emission display devices or biological labeling.