Growth of Indium Oxide and Zinc-Doped Indium Oxide Nanostructures

摘要

The growth of zinc-doped indium oxide nanostructures, from mesocontainers to nanowires, by thermal vapor transport of an In_2O_3+ZnO mixed precursor at a temperature of 960°C under a flow of argon gas mixed with ethanol vapors (reducing environment) and water vapors (oxidizing environment) is reported. The evolution of mesocontainers is systematically studied as a function of growth time by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and local energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectroscopy. Interestingly, the initial growth is found to be dominated by the formation of ZnO nanocrystallites, followed by the formation of ZnO beaded cable-like structures, and finally nucleation of Zn-doped indium oxide mesocontainer structures at the end of ZnO beaded cable-like structures. These Zn-doped IO mesocontainers appear to have regular crystalline facets with pyramidal holes. The growth andmorphological evolution of such structures are discussed in terms of the competitive growth ofZn/In oxides through a bottom-up vapor-solid (VS) mechanism. Surprisingly, amere change of growth environment fromreducing to oxidizing (or inert) results in the growth of In_2O_3-ZnO nanowires (or nanorods).This study gives an insight into the growth of In_2O_3-ZnO ternary oxide nanostructures which may have potential application in next generation flexible optoelectronic devices.