Recent advances in 1D micro- and nanoscale indium oxide structures

Abstract Due to a variety of outstanding physical and chemical properties such as wide band gap, low resistance, good catalysis, high surface-to-volume ratio, high sensitivity and strong interaction with gas molecules, one-dimensional (1D) micro- and nanoscale indium oxide (In2O3) structures are capable for high-performance optical, electrical and chemical devices, which have attracted much attention in the last decade. In this paper, we first summarize various fabrication methods of 1D micro- and nanoscale In2O3 structures such as chemical vapor deposition, hydrothermal method, thermal evaporation method and electrospinning, then the interesting electrical and optical properties and their potential applications including gas sensors, field-emission transitions, photocatalysts and ultraviolet detectors are reviewed. At last, in order to fulfill the potential applications of 1D micro- and nanoscale In2O3 structures, some challenges have also been discussed.