Structure and stability of monazite- and zircon-type LaVO4 under hydrostatic pressure

•Pure and Eu3+ doped M- and t-LaVO4 were synthesized by a hydrothermal method.•A monazite-to-monazite isostructural phase transition observed for m-LaVO4.•A zircon-to-monazite irreversible phase transition observed for t-LaVO4.

Pure monazite (m)- and zircon (t)-type LaVO4 and LaVO4:Eu3+ were successfully synthesized by a hydrothermal method. The high pressure behavior of m- and t-LaVO4 nanoparticles has been investigated using Raman scattering techniques at room temperature. Raman measurements reveal a slight change for m-LaVO4 at 11.2 GPa because of an isostructural phase transition. However, striking changes in Raman spectra indicate a pressure-induced irreversible phase transition from the zircon to monazite structure for t-LaVO4 at around 5.9 GPa. The evolution of the luminescence spectra of t-LaVO4:Eu3+ has also been studied during the pressure-induced phase transition. It is observed that pressure has a great influence on the fluorescence intensity and the energy levels, which allows a more in-depth understanding of the nature of the pressure-induced phase transition for t-LaVO4. This result further confirms the conclusion that zircon-type RVO4 compounds with larger rare-earth cations will experience zircon to monazite phase transition.

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