Effect of Carrier Gas Flow Rate on In₂O₃ Nanostructure Morphology and Growth Mechanism

Abstract:

The effect of carrier gas flow rate on the morphologies of In₂O₃ nanostructures was studied in a horizontal tube furnace via chemical vapor deposition method. Under low carrier gas flow rate, there appeared randomly oriented nanorods on the substrate, while the high carrier gas flow rate resulted in the nanocubes growth. The insufficient understanding of the role of the argon carrier gas flow rate motivated us to systematically research the transportation of the grown species during the growth processes and its effect on the nanostructure growth. COMSOL simulations were applied to evaluate the distribution of the growth species in the reactor versus the carrier gas flow rate, based on the geometry of our chemical vapor deposition system and a variety of actual growth conditions. The vapor species partial along with different carrier gas rate could cause the different super saturation condition, which is mainly to be responsible for the structural transformation. A combined VLS–VS mechanism was proposed to describe the growth of the Au-catalyzed In₂O₃ nanorods, while the nanocubes were governed by catalyst free VS growth mechanism.

• Periodical: Journal of Nano Research (Volume 31)
• Pages: 117-128
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/JNanoR.31.117
• Online since: April 2015
• Authors: Li Zhang*, Huan Xia, Chen Qiu, Jian Jun Jiang, Shao Wei Bie
• Keywords: Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD), Growth Mechanism, Indium Oxides, Simulation

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