Large-area In2O3 ordered pore arrays and their photoluminescence properties

Large-area In2O3 ordered pore arrays were prepared on glass and silicon substrates by the sol–gel technique based on colloidal monolayer spheres. The morphologies of such arrays are determined by precursor concentration used and colloidal sphere size, and are thus controllable. It has been shown that the formed ordered pore arrays consist of In2O3 polycrystallites. The photoluminescence measurement of the In2O3 ordered pore arrays shows that there is a strong photoluminescence band in the blue-green region centered around 465 nm, which does not exist in the bulk materials. Further experiments reveal that this peak originates from the oxygen deficiencies in In2O3 skeletons. This polydomain ordered pore-structured array could be of great potential for Si-based integrated nanophotonics and optoelectronic devices of the next generation, in addition to new gas sensors.