Piperidine and isobutyl-nitrite fuels for the combustion synthesis of nanomaterials: A study of crystal structure, microstructure, thermodynamics, and optical properties

Abstract

In this research, the fuels of piperidine (C5H11N) and isobutyl nitrite (C4H9NO2) were used to produce YVO4:Eu3+ nanoparticles. To remove the remaining organic materials and also to improve the crystal structure, these materials were calcined at 800 and 1000 °C, and then the particle size and morphology of the synthesized nanostructures were monitored using a scanning electron microscope (SEM). It was found that the type of consumed fuel and also the calcination temperature result in significant effects on the morphology of the nanostructures as well as the obtained luminescence properties. The use of isobutyl nitrite and piperidine leads to synthesis of homogeneous powders with particle sizes of 38 and 100 nm, respectively. The Rietveld calculations revealed that the growth of the mentioned particles through calcination at 800 °C leads to a reduction of microstrains from 0.00137 to 0.00048 and 0.00126 to 0.00044, respectively. The exciting of these materials by the wavelength of 307 nm causes the creation of a powerful emission spectrum with the highest intensities at the wavelengths of 594 and 624 nm, which originate from the electron transitions of 5D0–7F1 and 5D0–7F2, respectively. Also, the photoluminescence emission of phosphors synthesized by isobutyl nitrite is higher than that of piperidine, which this phenomenon is consistent with X-ray diffraction (XRD) and thermo-gravimetric analysis (TGA) results which proved that the crystallinity of the phosphors synthesized by isobutyl nitrite is higher than that of piperidine.