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.