Fabrication of ultrathin In2O3 hollow fibers for UV light sensing

• Published in: Physica scripta Vol. 89; no. 11
• Main Authors: Chen, Shuai, Long, Yun-Ze, Zhang, Hong-Di, Liu, Shu-Liang, Liu, Ling-Zhi, Zhang, Jun-Cheng, Liu, Guo-Xia, Shan, Fu-Kai
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: IOP Publishing 01.11.2014
• Subjects: electrospinning; hollow fiber; indium oxide; UV light sensing
• ISSN: 0031-8949; 1402-4896
• DOI: 10.1088/0031-8949/89/11/115808

Ultrathin indium oxide (In2O3) hollow fibers were successfully fabricated by electrospinning poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) nanofibers, magnetron sputtering of In2O3 on PVDF fibers followed by calcination of In2O3 PVDF composite fibers. The hollow In2O3 fibers were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), x-ray diffraction (XRD) and UV-Visible spectroscopy. The outer diameter of the hollow fibers was in the range of 700-900 nm, and the inner diameter was about 400-600 nm. The optoelectronic properties of the In2O3 fibers were investigated by the irradiation of UV light with different wavelengths (254, 308 and 365 nm). It was found that the In2O3 hollow nanofibers had a fast and strong response to UV irradiation. The response time was less than 10 s, and the sensitivity (∼102) decreased with the UV light wavelength increasing or the light intensity decreasing.