ZnAl2O4:Eu3+ hollow nanophosphors have been for the first time prepared by using carbon nanospheres as hard templates The ZnAl2O4 Eu3+ hollow nanophosphors were well characterized by means of XRPD, FESEM, TEM, HRTEM, N-2 adsorption and desorption and PL techniques The N-2 adsorption and desorption data reveal the porous nature of ZnAl2O4 Eu3+ hollow nanophosphors and high surface area of 195.3 m(2) g(-1) The PL measurement illustrates red-emitting feature of ZnAl2O4 Eu3+ hollow nanophosphors arising from the characteristic transitions of Eu3+ from D-5(0) -> F-7(J) (J = 0, 1, 2, 3, and 4) This simple and efficient synthetic strategy could be extended to prepare other series of aluminates nanophosphors with novel hollow structures. (C) 2010 Elsevier Inc All rights reserved