Self-Assembled 3D Microflowery In(OH)₃ Architecture and Its Conversion to In₂O₃

Using sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), a 3D microflowery indium hydroxide [In(OH) 3 ] structure assembled from 2D nanoflakes was fabricated in a large quantity via a hydrothermal approach at relative low temperature. The obtained In(OH) 3 flowers exhibited a narrow size range between 4 and 6 μm. The properties of these composites were characterized by XRD, EDX, FE-SEM, TEM, SAED, and TGA. In this work, both the use of urea and SDS and the amounts of these components played important roles in the formation of In(OH) 3 with different nanostructures. A surfactant-assisted 3D self-assembly and transformation mechanism was inferred from the evolution of the morphology to elucidate the formation of these flowery structures. In addition, In 2 O 3 with a similar morphology could be formed by annealing In(OH) 3 precursors. Furthermore, potentialities of the flowery In 2 O 3 were indicated in detail by N 2 adsorption−desorption isotherm characterization and a photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy investigation.