Structural and optical properties of Nd doped LaPO4

In this study, effect of Nd doping, as a dopant material on the structural, optical and electronic properties of lanthanum monazite structure has been studied. Pure and Nd:LaPO4 powders with varying Nd concentrations were prepared via conventional high-temperature solid-state reaction method. Compositional information obtained using Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy showed that within the detection limit, no impurities were present in the samples. Oxidation states of the elements were confirmed from X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (La and Nd) and X-ray absorption near edge structure studies (La). X-ray diffraction showed the formation of monoclinic crystal structure without any phase impurity. Fourier transform infra-red spectroscopic measurements confirmed the substitution of Nd in LaPO4 matrix. We also report the first ever local structure analysis using Extended X-ray absorption fine structure which showed that the Nd atoms have successfully substituted La atoms in LaPO4 matrix. The bandgaps were obtained from Diffuse reflectance UV-Visible spectroscopy.