Fabrication of a silica sphere with fluorescent and MR contrasting GdPO4 nanoparticles from layered gadolinium hydroxide.

The delaminated gadolinium hydroxide layers doped with Eu(3+) ions were assembled on the surface of silica spheres and annealed at high temperatures, resulting in the formation of fluorescent and MR active GdPO(4) : Eu nanoparticles at the surface.