Hydrothermal synthesis and characterization of rare earth doped yttrium aluminium perovskite - R:YAlO3 (R = Nd, Eu & Er)

Yttrium aluminium perovskite doped with rare earth ions is a promising material for several technological applications. It is considered as direct replacement for Yttrium Aluminum Garnet (YAG) owing to its structural simplicity and lasing property. It is also known for its mechanical and optical properties. High purity micro crystalline R:YAlO3 (R = Nd3+, Eu3+ and Er3+) is synthesized by employing hydrothermal supercritical fluid technique. The resultant materials were characterized using powder X-ray diffraction for structure and phase identification, scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray analysis were performed for particle morphology, phase purity and stoichiometry. These monodispersed polycrystalline materials show high degree of phase purity, good control over the concentration of dopants and exhibit well developed morphological features. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.