Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) ; Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) ; Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) ; In this paper, BaMoO(4) powders were prepared by the coprecipitation method and processed ill a domestic microwave-hydrothermal. The obtained powders were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform Raman (FT-Raman) spectroscopy, ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis) absorption spectroscopy and photoluminescence (PL) measurements. The morphology of these powders were investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). SEM micrographs showed that the BaMoO(4) powders present a polydisperse particle size distribution. XRD and FT-Raman analyses revealed that the BaMoO(4) powders are free of secondary phases and crystallize in a tetragonal structure. UV-vis was employed to determine the optical band gap of this material. PL measurements at room temperature exhibited a maximum emission around 542 nm (green emission) when excited with 488 run wavelength. This PL behavior was attributed to the existence of intrinsic distortions into the [MoO(4)] tetrahedron groups in the lattice. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.