A route to Ag-catalyzed growth of the semiconducting In2O3 nanowires

In2O3 nanowires with diameters of 10–100 nm were fabricated through direct hydrogen reduction In2O3 powder and Ag nanoparticles as catalyst. The results of high-resolution transmission electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction indicated that the nanowire was single-crystalline with body-centered cubic structure. Based on the fact that a small Ag nanoparticle attached to one end of some nanowires, a growth model of the In2O3 nanowires is proposed. A strong and broad blue-green emission band centered at 465 nm was observed in the photoluminescence spectrum of the In2O3 nanowires, which could be ascribed to the existence of a large amount of oxygen vacancies.