Dandelion-like gallium nitride (GaN) microstructures were successfully synthesized via Ni catalyst assisted chemical vapor deposition method at 1200 degrees C under NH3 atmosphere by pre-treating precursors with aqueous ammonia. The as-synthesized product was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). X-ray diffraction analysis revealed that as-synthesized dandelion-like GaN was pure and has hexagonal wurtzite structure. SEM results showed that the size of the dandelion-like GaN structure was in the range of 30-60 mu m. Dandelion-like GaN microstructures exhibited reasonable field emission properties with the turn-on field of 9.65 V mu m(-1) (0.01 mA cm(-2)) and threshold field of 11.35 V mu m(-1) (1 mA cm(-2)) which is sufficient for applications of electron emission devices, field emission displays and vacuum micro electronic devices. Optical properties were studied at room temperature by using fluorescence spectrophotometer. Photoluminescence (PL) measurements of dandelion-like GaN showed a strong near-band-edge emission at 370.2 nm (3.35 eV) with blue band emission at 450.4 nm (2.75 eV) and 465.2 nm (2.66 eV) but with out yellow band emission. The room-temperature photoluminescence properties showed that it has also potential application in light-emitting devices. The tentative growth mechanism for the growth of dandelion-like GaN was also described. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.