Soft-Templated Room Temperature Fabrication of Nanoscale Lanthanum Phosphate: Synthesis, Photoluminescence, and Energy-Transfer Behavior

Abstract

We herein report a simple and effective soft template mediated synthesis protocol for the room temperature preparation of highly crystalline cerium (Ce3+) and terbium (Tb3+) doped lanthanum phosphate (LaPO4) nanorods (NRs) and nanoflowers. Anionic surfactant sodium bis(2-ethylhexyl) sulfosuccinate (AOT)/n-alkane soft template was chosen since it forms stable reverse micelles (RMs). Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis corroborated successful formation of LaPO4:Ce3+,Tb3+ NRs having different aspect ratios (ranging from 2.8:1 to 7.6:1) under varying reaction conditions. The crystalline nature of the nanomaterials (NMs) was ascertained by X-ray diffraction (XRD), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), and small-area electron diffraction (SAED) studies. Energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX) and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy further verified the elemental existence of the desirably synthesized nanostructures. Experimental results from thermogravimetric-differential therma...