Copper-assisted shape control in colloidal synthesis of indium oxide nanoparticles

Indium oxide is an important n-type transparent semiconductor, finding application in solar cells, sensors, and optoelectronic devices. We present here a novel non-injection synthesis route for the preparation of colloidal indium oxide nanocrystals by using oleylamine (OLA) as ligand and as solvent. Indium oxide with cubic crystallographic structure is formed in a reaction between indium acetate and OLA, the latter is converted to oleylamide during the synthesis. The shape of the nanocrystals can be influenced by the addition of copper ions. When only indium (III) acetate is used as precursor flower-shaped indium oxide nanoparticles are obtained. Addition of copper salts such as copper (I) acetate, copper (II) acetate, copper (II) acetylacetonate, or copper (I) chloride, under otherwise identical reaction conditions changes the shape of nanoparticles to quasi-spherical or elongated. The anions, except for chloride, do not influence the shape of the resulting nanocrystals. This finding suggests that adsorption of copper ions on the In₂O₃ surface during the nanoparticles growth is responsible for shape control, whereas changes in the reactivity of the In cations caused by the presence of different anions play a secondary role. X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance, energy dispersive X-ray analysis, and UV–Vis-absorption spectroscopy are used to characterize the samples.