Laurustinus shaped NaY(WO4)(2) micro-particles assembled by nanosheets were synthesized via a microwave-assisted hydrothermal (MH) route. The growing mechanisms for the obtained resultants with various morphologies were proposed based on the observation of scanning electron microscopic (SEM) images. It was found that Na(3)Cit added into the reaction solution greatly influenced the formation and size dimension of the nano-sheets, furthermore determined assembling of the laurustinus shaped micro-particles. The temperature sensing performance of NaY(WO4)(2):Er3+/Yb3+ was evaluated. Thermal effect induced by the 980 nm laser irradiation in laurustinus-shaped NaY(WO4)(2):Er3+/Yb3+ phosphor was studied. It was found that the green upconversion luminescence intensity increased in the first stage of laser irradiation, and then decreased after reaching a maximum. Based on the thermal sensing technology the laurustinus NaY(WO4)(2):Er3+/Yb3+ microparticles were used as thermal probe to discover thermal effect of upconversion luminescence in laurustinus NaY(WO4)(2):Tm3+/Yb3+ micro-particles. (C) 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.