Synthesis and luminescence of CePO₄:Tb/LaPO₄ core/sheath nanowires

CePO₄:Tb/LaPO₄ nanowires with a core/sheath architecture have been successful synthesized by a facile aqueous chemical method mediated by original CePO₄:Tb aggregation seeds. The seed crystals serve as both a luminescence center and a nucleation site for epitaxial growth. The seed nanocrystals have an irregular sphere-like shape with an average size of around 6.8nm and a narrow size distribution. When the seed crystals are coated with LaPO₄, the resulting core/sheath CePO ₄:Tb/LaPO₄ nanowires have mean diameters of about 7.6nm and lengths up to 331nm. Both photo-and x-ray luminescence demonstrate that the LaPO₄ coating increases the luminescence efficiency. These core/sheath structured nanowires may find potential applications in solid state lighting, medical imaging and radiation detection.