Copolymer-assisted synthesis and photoluminescent properties of 3D hierarchical EuF3 spherical architectures

• A copolymer-assisted one-pot solution-based strategy is proposed to synthesize 3D hierarchical EuF3 architectures.
• The copolymer and reaction time play crucial roles in the formation of EuF3 architectures.
• Amphiphilic glucosyl triblock copolymer acts as complexing agents and dispersing stabilizers.

With the assistance of amphiphilic glucosyl triblock copolymer, poly(acryloyl glucofuranose)-block-poly(N-isopropyl acrylamide)-block-poly(acrylic acid) (PAG-b-PNIPAM-b-PAA, PGNA), well-dispersed three-dimensional hierarchical EuF3 architectures have been synthesized via simple wet chemical method. The purity and morphological properties of as-prepared EuF3 are characterized by using FTIR, XRD, TEM and SEM. The time-dependent results indicate that the obtained EuF3 architectures with an average diameter of 3 µm are organized by nanodisks-assembled microspheres. As complexing agent and dispersing stabilizer, the copolymer plays a key role in the formation of hierarchical morphology. The BET surface area of the hierarchical EuF3 architectures is 108.32 m2/g. The photoluminescent spectrum of hierarchical EuF3 shows enhanced red emission compared with EuF3 nanodisks, suggesting a promising application in optical fields.