A facile hydrothermal route to flower-like single crystalline EuPO 4·H 2O

Uniform three-dimensional (3-D) flower-like EuPO4·H2O microstructures consisting of several fine prisms with ca. 2μm in length and 300nm 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°C for 15h. 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·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.