Abstract
Amino acid capped YVO4: Eu nanoparticles were synthesized via a facile and green microwave-assisted hydrothermal method with water as solvent and amino acid as template agent. The as-prepared nanoparticles have good crystallinity, high water-dispersibility and small size (<50 nm). Meanwhile, the effects of adding amounts of amino acids on the structure and morphology of synthetic nanoparticles were also studied in detail. This synthetic method is equally suitable for the synthesis of other rare earth vanadates. The YVO4: Eu nanoparticles exhibit excellent luminescent property under UV light excitation. It was compounded with a flexible polymer for simple 3D image display. YVO4: Eu nanoparticles can also be used as fluorescent probes to label mouse colon cancer cells (CT26 cells).