Self-assembly of indium phosphide with an urchin-like architecture through a hydrothermal route

Urchin-like InP architectures were synthesized by hydrothermal route at 160 °C. The products were characterized with scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, spectrofluorometry. Results show that the hollow urchin-like InP microspheres with diameters of 40–70 μm were composed by numerous microrods with a diameter of about 0.5–2 μm. The obtained InP samples were of high purity zinc blende (cubic) structure. According to the analysis on the effects of reaction time on the morphologies, a possible formation mechanism of hollow urchin-like InP architectures was proposed. The optical properties of the urchin-like InP hollow microspheres were also investigated at room temperature, and results show that the urchin-shape InP microspheres displayed a strong emission at 599 nm, which is quite different from that observed in all previous reports related to the InP nano/micro structures.

► Urchin-like InP architectures were synthesized by hydrothermal route.
► CTAB plays an important role in the formation of Urchin-like InP architectures.
► Urchin structure InP has a broad emission band centered at 599 nm.
► This may be the first report on the synthesis of Urchin-like InP architectures.