Abstract: Sm2O3 nanoparticles were prepared in W/O reverse microemulsion composed of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB), n-butanol, n-octane, Sm(NO3)3 brine, and ammonia water. Based on the pseudo-ternary phase diagrams of the microemulsions at 25 ℃, a microemulsion region for preparation of Sm2O3 was determined, and the precursor products of Sm2O3 nanoparticles were synthesized in the microemulsion region. The influences of the reactant concentration and the reaction time on the size of the precursors were studied. The result derived from thermal analysis (TG-DSC) indicated that the proper calcination temperature was 900 ℃. The structures and morphologies of the nanoparticles were characterized by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscope (TEM), nanoparticle size analyzer (NSA), and fluorescence spectroscope (FS), respectively. The results showed that the Sm2O3 fluorescent nanoparticles with narrow distribution in size could be obtained by using this method.

Key words: Reverse microemulsion, Precursor, Sm2O3 nanoparticles, Preparation