Low temperature growth of nanoblade In2O3 thin films by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition: Morphology control and lithium storage properties

In2O3 thin films with vertically aligned blade like structure are prepared at low temperature of 300 °C by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition using InCl3, O2 and H2 as the precursors. The nanoscale morphology can be controlled by the H2 flow in the reaction system. Vertically aligned nanoblades with smooth surface can be obtained by directly reacting InCl3 with O2. Increasing the H2 fraction in the reaction system will causes secondary growth on the blade surface and finally leads to destruction of the blade like structure. Optical emission spectroscopy suggests that the morphology evolution induced by H2 addition can be attributed to the enhanced InCl3 dissociation and the suppressed etching effect of atomic Cl. The nanoblade In2O3 thin films exhibit superior lithium storage properties with a high stable capacity of 580 mAh⋅g− 1 up to 100 cycles, which is attributed to the well separated thin blade like nanostructure.