Rapid sonochemical synthesis of In2O3 nanoparticles their doping optical, electrical and hydrogen gas sensing properties

Indium oxide (In2O3) nanoparticles have been synthesized by rapid sonochemical technique. The as synthesized In2O3 nanoparticles have been characterized by XRD, Raman Spectroscopy, FESEM, EDX, DRS, I-V measurement. XRD analysis has showed that the In2O3 nanoparticles have single cubic crystal phase with highly crystalline nature. Moreover successful doping of In2O3 was carried by different Sn ratio. The stoichiometry of Sn in ITO was comprehensively examined by EDX analysis. FESEM studies showed uniform morphology of In2O3 and ITO nanoparticles. Raman spectra further confirmed the successful doping of Sn into the indium oxide matrix. The optical properties of In2O3 and ITO nanoparticles were analyzed with diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, and the band gap was found to vary from 3.45 to 3.75 eV with different Sn dopant concentrations. I-V measurements of the In2O3 nanoparticles at different temperatures showed the semiconducting behavior. Furthermore, the synthesized In2O3 semiconductor nanoparticles exhibited reasonable sensitivity and fast response towards hydrogen gas. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.