A facile hydrothermal route to flower-like single crystalline EuPO4 • H2O

Uniform three-dimensional (3-D) flower-like EuPO4 center dot H2O microstructures consisting of several fine prisms with ca. 2 mu m in length and 300 nm in diameter have been successfully synthesized via a facile hydrothermal route by using Eu2O3 and H3PO4 as raw materials in the presence of PEG-200 at 120 degrees C for 15 h. The morphology, structure, and photoluminescence property were studied. The results indicated that PEG-200 plays a key role in forming flower-like microstructures, and 3-D flower-like EuPO4 center dot H2O microstructures show an enhanced photoluminescence compared to those of the other two morphologies, such as irregular single prisms and nanoclusters composed of nanorods. A possible formation mechanism of the flower-like microstructures was proposed. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.