Hydrothermal growth and morphology evolution of CePO4 aggregates by a complexing method

A facile hydrothermal route assisted by Na2H2EDTA (ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid disodium) has been successfully developed to prepare uniform cerium phosphate (CePO4) aggregates with different morphologies, such as peanut-like and spindle-like. It was found that the as-prepared uniform CePO4 aggregates were constructed with many nearly parallel aligned nanorods. The molar ratio of EDTA/Ce3+, solution pH and reaction time had great influences on the morphologies and sizes of the CePO4 samples. In our process of synthesis, Na2H2EDTA played important roles as complexing reagent and inducing agent on the formation of CePO4 aggregates. The possible growth mechanism for CePO4 aggregates was presented. Ce0.9Tb0.1PO4 aggregates with different morphologies were also prepared and their photoluminescence properties were characterized.