Fabrication, magnetic anisotropy and tunable fluorescence of amorphous LaxCuyOz nanowire arrays

•   LaxCuyOz nanowire arrays with average diameters 90s and lengths 5μm have beenprepared..
• LaxCuyOz nanowire arrays exhibit obvious magnetic anisotropic behavior.
• Fluorescent intensity of Tb3+, Eu3+, Sm3+-doped products can be effective tuned by doping content.
• The respective contribution of La and Cu elements to the fluorescent intensity was investigated.

The amorphous LaxCuyOz nanowire arrays (NWAs) with average diameter 90 nm and lengths 5 μm have been prepared by chemical co-precipitation assisted by subatmospheric pressure suction filtration (SPSF) in porous anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) template. There is obvious magnetic anisotropy in LaxCuyOz NWAs, and unusual easily magnetized direction is perpendicular to the axis of nanowire. The tunable fluorescence of rare earth (Re=Tb, Eu, Sm) doped LaxCuyOz NWAs and the respective contribution of La and Cu to the fluorescence of NWAs were investigated, the results show that the fluorescent intensity of Eu, Tb, Sm-doped LaxCuyOz NWAs increased with accession of dopant contain different mole percents. The intensity of emission peaks gradually increased with Eu from 2 to 50 mol% at 591 nm, Sm from 2 to 50 mol% at 610 nm or achieved to maximum at 542 nm when doping content of Tb is 5 mol%. Furthermore, La exhibit facilitation or Cu present inhibition to fluorescent intensity of NWAs.