Preparation and luminescent properties of one-dimensional YVO4:Eu nanocrystals

One-dimensional YVO4:Eu3+ nanofibre and nanospindle samples were fabricated by electrospinning and an ultrasonic chemistry method. The average diameter of the YVO4:Eu3+ nanofibres were 30 nm, and they mainly consisted of nanoparticles arranged in 1-d patterns. The YVO4:Eu3+ nanospindles, with central diameters and lengths of around 50 and 150 nm, were assembled from nanorods with central diameters and lengths of around 10 and 50 nm. Their luminescent characteristics including excitation and emission spectra, and temperature-dependent fluorescence lifetimes, were studied and compared. The luminescence intensities of Eu3+ in YVO4:Eu3+ nanofibres were slightly higher than those in YVO4:Eu3+ nanospindles. Both the dependence of fluorescence lifetimes on the temperature of Eu3+ 5D0 for the YVO4:Eu3+ nanofibres or nanospindles remained quasi-constant, or indeed constant, over the temperature range studied, respectively; however, the lifetimes of Eu3+ 5D0 in YVO4:Eu3+ nanofibres were always shorter than those in YVO4:Eu3+ nanospindles at the same temperature.