Room temperature synthesis and characterization of different morphological TbF3 nano/microcrystals

At room temperature, a simple solution-based procedure employing NaBF4 as the fluoride source has been developed to selectively prepare different morphological TbF3 nano/microcrystals (disks, peanuts and spindles) with an orthorhombic structure. The crystal structure, morphology and photoluminescence properties of the as-prepared TbF3 crystals were investigated by x-ray powder diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and fluorescence spectrophotometer. The results revealed that large-scale and uniform disks with a mean thickness of 20 nm can be easily synthesized, and the spindle-like and peanut-like TbF3 crystals were assembled from nanodisks. The effects of synthesis parameters such as NaBF4, reaction time and molar ratio of the reactants were systematically investigated. The room temperature PL properties of these different morphological TbF3 microcrystals were measured.