UV-assisted synthesis of indium nitride nano and microstructures

Abstract

Indium nitride (InN) has been made the first time by a combined thermal/UV photo-assisted process. Indium oxide (In2O3) was reacted with ammonia using two different procedures in which either the ammonia was photolysed or both In2O3 and ammonia were photolysed. A wide range of InN structures were made by these procedures that were determined by the reaction conditions (time, temperature). The reaction of In2O3 with photolysed NH3 gave InN rod-like structures that were made of stacked cones (6 h/750 °C) or discs (6 h/800 °C) and that contained some In2O3 residue. In contrast, photolysis of both In2O3 and NH3 gave InN nanowires and pure InN nanotubes filled with In metal (>90%). The transformation of the 3D In2O3 particles to the tubular 1D InN was monitored as a function of time (1-4 h) and temperature (700-800 °C); the product formed was very sensitive to temperature. The band gap of the In filled InN nanotubes was found to be 1.89 eV.