Hydrothermal Synthesis and Optical Properties of Single-Crystal EuPO4 Nanowires

Single-crystal EuPO₄ nanowires have been prepared by a facile hydrothermal technique and characterized by X-ray diffractometer (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), transmission electron microscope (TEM), UV-Vis diffuse reflectance spectrum (DRS), photoluminescence (PL) spectra and lifetime. The results indicate that the as-prepared sample has monoclinic structure of EuPO₄ and is mainly composed of single-crystal nanowires with the diameter of around 30 nm and the length of 2~5 μm. Under the UV light irradiation, single-crystal EuPO₄ nanowires exhibit bright orange-red emission corresponding to the ⁵D₀→⁷FJ (J = 1, 2, 3, 4) transitions of the Eu³⁺ ions. The PL decay curve can be fitted into a double exponential function and the average lifetime is about 0.5 ms.