N,N-dimethylformamide-induced synthesis and photoluminescence of CePO4 and Ce0.95PO4:Tb0.05 with sphere-like nanostructures

•CePO4 and Ce0.95PO4:Tb0.05 uniform sphere-like nanostructures were synthesized.•The N,N-dimethylformamide plays a role in forming the sphere-like nanostructures.•The sphere-like Ce0.95PO4:Tb0.05 nanostructures exhibited strong green luminescence.•A possible formation mechanism of the sphere-like nanostructures was proposed.

Hexagonal CePO4 and Ce0.95PO4:Tb0.05 uniform sphere-like nanostructures self-assembled by nanowires with about 1–2 μm in length and about 60–70 nm in diameter have been controllably synthesized through the N,N-dimethylformamide-induced hydrothermal route. The morphology, structure, and photoluminescence properties were studied. The results indicated that the N,N-dimethylformamide plays a role in forming the sphere-like nanostructures. By varying the N,N-dimethylformamide concentration, the sphere-like nanostructured CePO4 with a self-assembly of nanowires were controllably synthesized. The hexagonal Ce0.95PO4:Tb0.05 sphere-like nanostructures exhibited strong photoluminescence. A possible formation mechanism of the sphere-like nanostructures was proposed.