Morphology and optical properties of wet chemistry synthesized submicron CePO4:Tb3+ hollow spheres

This study employed a wet chemistry route to synthesize submicron and luminescent CePO4:Tb3+ hollow spheres with functional citric acid acting as a structure-directing agent. Citric acid amount, reaction time and temperature, and annealing temperature were found to adjust particles’ size and shape. Reaction time and temperature were the main factors with strong effectiveness to well-defined hollow sphere shape and inner structure of particles. The luminescent intensity of hollow spheres changed in parallel with the changes in their morphology. Results of the X-ray diffractometer obtained at various annealing temperatures showed the differences between the hexagonal and monoclinic crystalline phases. The green emission is accepted as an intrinsic 5D4–7F5 transition of [Tb3+] ion. The average lifetime of CePO4:Tb3+ hollow spheres was considered quite long with strong luminescent, recorded from 0.98 to 1.12 ms, providing the ability for medical application with use as luminescent materials in the human body. Besides, CePO4:Tb3+ Echinus-like morphology with a large surface area was produced, aiming to apply in the catalyst field.