Microwave-assisted hydrothermal synthesis and characterizations of PrF3 hollow nanoparticles

PrF3 hollow nanoparticles were synthesized by the microwave-assisted heating hydrothermal treatment of the corresponding colloidal rare earth fluorides precipitates. The products were characterized by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). The TEM imaging showed that the PrF3 nanoparticles prepared in this way had hollow sphere-like morphology with the mean particle size of about 31 nm. XRD showed that the PrF3 hollow nanoparticles had high purity and high crystallinity.