Magnetic and luminescent Fe3O4/Y2O3:Eu3+ composites with hollow spheres and mesoporous silica

• The magnetic and luminescent properties of Fe3O4@SiO2@Y2O3:Eu3+ composites are researched.
• The composites show ordered mesoporous characteristics.
• There is monodisperse spherical morphology with smooth surface and narrow size distribution.

In this paper, co-precipitation synthesized Fe3O4 microspheres have been encapsulated with nonporous silica and further functionalized by the deposition of Y2O3:Eu3+ phosphors through a simple co-precipitation process, realizing a hollow structured material with mesoporous, magnetic and luminescent properties. The results reveal that the material shows typical ordered mesoporous characteristics, and have monodisperse spherical morphology with smooth surface and narrow size distribution. Additionally, the multifunctional nanocomposite shows the characteristic emission of Eu3+ (5D0–7F1–4). Magnetism measurement reveals the paramagnetic feature of the samples. Furthermore, we also compared the magnetic and fluorescent properties of solid Fe3O4@SiO2@Y2O3:Eu3+ and Fe3O4@HM-SiO2@Y2O3:Eu3+.