Structural and Gas-Sensitive Characteristics of In2O3: Effect of Hydrothermal/Solvothermal Synthesis Conditions

In2O3 nanoparticles were obtained by annealing precursors that had been hydrothermally/solvothermally synthesized at 200 °C using In(NO3)3·4.5H2O as the starting material. Three solvents were used for the synthesis, namely water, alcohol and ethylene glycol. Urea or glycine additives were introduced into the reaction mixtures as stabilizing and structure-forming agents. The nanopowders obtained were characterized using X-ray diffraction, scanning and transmission electron microscopy, low-temperature nitrogen adsorption and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The gas-sensing characteristics of the indium oxide-based sensors were investigated for the detection of hydrogen in air. It has been established that the nature of the solvent determines the phase composition and structure of indium oxide, while organic additives reduce the particle size and increase the specific surface area. It should be noted that the addition of glycine to an alcohol solution of indium nitrate during synthesis produces a phase transformation. The results show that the sensor based on In2O3 synthesized using this mixture has the best hydrogen sensing properties of all the materials considered in this study.