Porous In(OH) x S y hollow nanocubes: low-temperature reaction design, shape evolution, growth mechanism, and photoluminescent property

Porous sulfur-doped In(OH)3 (In(OH)xSy) hollow nanocubes were fabricated for the first time by taking advantage of a facile solution-phase approach using thioacetamide as the sulfur source at a temperature as low as 80 °C. The phase structures, composition, and morphologies of resulting products were investigated by powder X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. The characterization results indicated that the addition of thioacetamide in synthetic solution could not only accelerate the hollowing process and tune the size of nanocubes but also facilitate the doping of sulfur in In(OH)3. We proposed that the cooperative combination of oriented attachment and Ostwald ripening as well as chemical-etching process governed the crystal growth, resulting in the formation of the porous sulfur-doped In(OH)3 hollow nanocubes in this study. We also found these novel In(OH)3-based hollow nanostructures showed evolutional room temperature photolumincence emissions at visible-light region, suggesting their potential application in the optical and photocatalytic fields.