Room temperature synthesis and characterization of NaEuF4 nanorods and Na5Eu9F32 nanospheres

A simple solution-based route was used to selectively synthesize two ternary metal fluoride NaEuF4 nanorods with hexagonal structure and Na5Eu9F32 nanospheres with cubic structure at room temperature. It is found that NaEuF4 nanorods can be transformed into Na5Eu9F32 nanospheres with the increasing the reaction time in the presence of excessive NaF. The luminescence properties of these two metal fluorides were investigated and the possible formation mechanism was discussed.