A microemulsion-mediated hydrothermal method for synthesis of YVO4:RE(RE=Yb 3+/Er 3+,Yb 3+/Tm 3+)nanoparticles by hydrothermal treatment of quaternary microemulsion medium consisting of Na3VO4/NaOH and RE(NO3)3 aqueous solution, surfactant cetyltrimethylammonium bromide(CTAB),cosurfactant n-hexanol and oil phase n-heptane was report.The confinement of microemulsion droplets acting as microreactors during the reaction process allows the formation of small size YVO4:RE nanoparticles with relatively narrow size distribution and less aggregation.The structure,size and shape of YVO4:RE nanoparticles were investigated by means of X-ray diffractometry(XRD)and transmission electron microscopy(TEM).Compared with the conventional solid annealing diffusion method,the microemulsion-mediated hydrothermal method shows superiority in obtaining YVO4:RE nanoparticles with controllable size,narrow size distribution and less aggregation.The microemulsion-mediated hydrothermal method may be potentially applicable for synthesis of other rare earth doped up-converting luminescence nanomaterials.
