Concentration Effect of Gd³⁺ on the Structural, Optical and Spectroscopic Properties of NdVO₄ Nanoparticles

Abstract

Neodymium vanadate with concentration of gadolinium as 3% and 5% having general formulae Gd_xNd_1-xVO₄ where x = 0.03 and 0.05 was prepared by chemical route technique. The effect of concentration of gadolinium on the structural, optical and spectroscopic properties was explained by various characterization techniques. Powder X-ray diffraction study suggests tetragonal zircon structure; various parameters such as crystallite size, volume and X-ray density were calculated. A change in morphology with the change in concentration of gadolinium was observed through scanning electron microscopy. Ultraviolet absorption spectroscopy shows various transitions from ground state to various excited state within 4f shell, and variation in the optical band gap calculated by Tauc plot is due to the incorporation of Gd³⁺ ions.

Keywords:

• Neodymium vanadate
• gadolinium
• scanning electron microscopy
• co-precipitation
• rare earth vanadates
• UV spectroscopy

Acknowledgments

The authors express their gratitude to Sophisticated Analytical Instrument Facilities (SAIF) Cochin University for providing the facility of powder X-ray diffraction.