Novel 3D octahedral La2Sn2O7:Eu3+ microcrystals: Hydrothermal synthesis and photoluminescence properties

Novel 3D octahedral La2Sn2O7:Eu3+ microcrystals with pyrochlore structure have been synthesized via a hydrothermal route at 180 ºC for 36 h. The experimental results revealed that the pH value of the precursor solution not only plays an important role in determining the phase of the as-synthesized products, but also has a significant influence on the morphologies of the samples. High-quality and uniform octahedron with an average size of about 700 nm could be easily obtained at the pH value of 12. The photoluminescence spectra showed that 3D octahedral La2Sn2O7:Eu3+ displayed improved luminescence compared with the samples of with other shapes. The growth mechanism of octahedral La2Sn2O7:Eu3+ microcrystals was briefly proposed.