Fabrication of Indium Sulfide Hollow Spheres and Their Conversion to Indium Oxide Hollow Spheres Consisting of Multipore Nanoflakes

Indium sulfide hollow spheres consisting of nanoflakes with the thickness of about 20 nm were successfully prepared by dodecanethiol-assisted hydrothermal process at 180 °C for 12 h, employing indium chloride tetrahydrate and l- cysteine as precursors. The diameter of In 2 S 3 hollow spheres is 3−5 μm. More interesting, some hollow spheres hold multipore shells. And indium sulfide hollow spheres can be converted to indium oxide hollow spheres consisting of multipore sheets when In 2 S 3 hollow spheres were oxidized in atmosphere in Muffle at 600 °C for 6 h. The synthesized product was characterized by X-ray diffraction, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), high-resolution TEM, electron diffraction, UV−vis, and fluorescence spectrophotometer. The effects of the reaction conditions on morphologies of In 2 S 3 structures were investigated. The results show that temperature, sulfur source, and dodecanethiol play key roles on the formation of the morphology of In 2 S 3 crystal. The optical properties were also investigated. And the formation mechanism of In 2 S 3 hollow spheres is discussed.