Spectral studies of nanosized LnVO(4): Eu (Ln = La, Gd, Y)

Nanosized LnVO(4) : Eu (Ln = La, Cd, Y) with diameters ranging from 20 to 50 nm were synthesized by complex sol-gel technique. The structures and spectral properties of LnVO(4) : Eu were studied by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform (FT-IR) spectroscopy, luminescence spectra and ultraviolet spectroscopy (UV). The experimental results show that YVO4 : Eu and GdVO4 : Eu have similar spectral properties because they both have the structure of xenotime, while the structure of LaVO4 : Eu belongs to monazite, whose symmetry is inferior to the former vanadates. Consequently the spectral properties of LaVO4 : Eu are obviously different from the other two luminescence materials, as the peaks of infrared spectrum and emission spectrum become wider and the number of peaks in UV-Vis spectrum increases