Porous structured GaN nanowires were synthesized with a large scale by chemical vapor deposition of Ga/Ga2O3/ B2O3/C mixture under NH3 flow. The average diameter is 40 nm and the length is up to 1 mm. The porous GaN nanowires consist of the wurtzite single crystal grown with the [0 1 1] direction parallel to the wire axis. The size of pores is 5-20 nm. The porous GaN crystals are partially coated with nearly amorphous BCN layers. The photoluminescence exhibits a broad band in the energy range of 2.1-3.6 eV. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.