Facile fabrication and enhanced gas sensing properties of In2O3 nanoparticles

Abstract

Nanoscale single crystalline In₂O₃ nanoparticles with sizes of 10–40 nm are prepared by annealing gas-liquid phase chemical deposition-synthesized In₂S₃ nanoparticles and are developed for the detection of acetone gas. The In₂O₃ nanoparticles are characterized by TEM, HRTEM, SAED, EDX and XRD. Moreover, the products are further studied by room temperature UV-absorption and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy. To demonstrate the usage of such nanoparticles, gas sensors based on the as-synthesized In₂O₃ nanoparticles are fabricated and exhibit good selectivity, high sensitivity, rapid response, a low concentration detection limit and better repeatability towards acetone gas at a relatively low operating temperature. Such excellent gas sensing performances are attributed to small crystal sizes and the existence of abundant oxygen vacancies. As demonstrated, the single crystalline In₂O₃ nanoparticles are highly promising for real-time monitoring gas sensor applications.