Facile sonochemical synthesis and morphology control of CePO₄ nanostructures via an oriented attachment mechanism: application as luminescent probe for selective sensing of Pb²⁺ ion in aqueous solution.

CePO4 nanostructures with hexagonal phase were controllably synthesized using Ce(NO3)3 reaction with NH4H2PO4 through a sonochemical method by simply varying the reaction conditions. By adding ethanol and polyethylene glycol (PEG), coral-reef nanostructures (CRNs) were synthesized and controlling over pH caused to nanorods/nanowires. Oriented attachment (OA) is proposed as dominant mechanism on the growth of nanostructures which is in competition with Ostwald ripening (OR). The crystal structure and morphology of the nanostructures were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), respectively. The luminescent properties of CePO4 with different morphologies have been studied. Among the nanostructures, nanoparticles with the highest intensity of fluorescent have been used as luminescent probe for selective sensing of Pb(2+) ion in aqueous solution.