Sn-doped polyhedral In2O3 particles: Synthesis, characterization, and origins of luminous emission in wide visible range

Sn-doped octahedronal and tetrakaidecahedronal In2O3 particles were successfully synthesized by simple thermal evaporation of indium grains using SnO as dopant. Structural characterization results demonstrated that the Sn-doped tetrakaidecahedronal In2O3 particle had additional six {001} crystal surfaces compared with the octahedronal one. The luminous properties of both samples were characterized by photoluminescence (PL) and cathodoluminescence (CL) spectroscopy. A broad visible luminous emission around 570 nm was observed. Studies revealed that the emission consisted of three peaks of 511 nm, 564 nm, and 622 nm, which were attributed to radioactive recombination centers such as single ionized oxygen vacancy, indium interstitial, and antisite oxygen, respectively. We believe that the Sn donor level plays an important role in the visible luminous emission.