Fabrication of Bi-doped In2O3-ITO nanocomposites and their photoluminescence properties

Abstract

For the first time, Bi-doped In2O3-indium tin oxide (ITO) nanocomposites were prepared on Si substrates with the assistance of a Au catalyst through the simple gas-phase transport of a mixture of Bi, In, and Sn powders. The square-shaped Bi-doped In2O3-ITO nanostructures were straight, a few hundreds of nanometres in width, and below a few tens of micrometres in length. Electron microscopy, x-ray diffraction, and energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy analyses indicated that the Bi-doped In2O3-ITO nanorods were single crystals with a basis of cubic In2O3 structures. The photoluminescence spectra revealed that the Bi-doped In2O3-ITO nanorods had a strong orange emission band centred at approximately 626 nm without any shoulder bands. The enhancement of orange emission might be due to the oxygen deficiencies of structural defects in the nanorods.