Indium Oxide

Indium Oxide powder is a white or yellowish inorganic powder with the chemical formula In₂O₃. It has high chemical stability, good optical transparency, excellent electrical properties (e.g., semiconductor properties), and is widely used in many fields such as flat-panel displays, solar cells, and sensors.

Characteristics

Chemical formula: In₂O₃, is an indium oxide consisting of two indium atoms and three oxygen atoms.

Molecular weight: 277.64 g/mol

Appearance: usually white to light yellow powder, will change to reddish brown when heated.

Density: 7.179 g/cm³ (25℃), relative density, in the powder material belongs to the higher density category.

Melting point: about 1910 ℃, with a high melting point, indicating that it has a good stability at high temperatures.

Boiling point: 850°C

Solubility: insoluble in water but soluble in hot inorganic acids

Band gap: about 3 eV (300 K), which has some applications in the semiconductor field.

Hygroscopicity: If the temperature is not properly controlled during preparation, the resulting oxide may be hygroscopic, but the more completely it is treated at high temperature, the less hygroscopic it becomes.

Stability: Stable at room temperature and pressure, but in the presence of hydrogen or other reducing agents, it can be reduced to indium metal or low value indium oxide when heated to 400～500℃.

Applications

Electronic field:

Transparent conductive films: Indium tin oxide (ITO), formed by indium oxide and tin oxide, is an important transparent conductive material.ITO films have high transparency in the visible range and good conductivity at the same time, and are widely used as transparent electrodes for liquid crystal displays (LCDs), organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays, touchscreens, and other electronic devices. For example, ITO films are used in the screens of smartphones, tablet PCs, and TVs.

Integrated circuit components: It can be used as an n-type semiconductor, as a resistive element in integrated circuits, etc. It has high stability and reliability. It has high stability and reliability and can meet the performance requirements of integrated circuits for electronic components.

Optical field:

Optical Coating: Due to its specific optical properties, it can be used for optical coating to change the optical properties of the substrate material. For example, indium oxide films coated on the surface of spectacle lenses and optical lenses can increase their anti-reflective properties, improve light transmittance, and reduce the reflection and scattering of light.

Laser materials: In the preparation of certain laser materials, indium oxide powder can be used as an additive or dopant to adjust the performance of laser materials, such as laser wavelength and output power.

Energy field:

Solar cells: indium oxide also has applications in solar cells. It can be used as a window layer material in solar cells to help improve the photoelectric conversion efficiency of solar cells. For example, in some new solar cell structures, indium oxide films are used to improve the cell’s absorption and utilisation of sunlight.

Battery additives: In some types of batteries, indium oxide powder can be used as an additive to improve battery performance. For example, in alkaline manganese batteries, indium oxide can be used as a mercury substitute corrosion inhibitor, which reduces environmental pollution from the battery.

Sensor field: Since indium oxide materials show good gas-sensitive properties for both oxidising and reducing gases, they can be used to prepare gas sensors to detect changes in the concentration and composition of various gases, such as detecting harmful gases in the air and gas leakage in industrial production.

Glass and ceramics field:

Glass colorant: In glass manufacturing, the addition of an appropriate amount of indium oxide powder can make the glass show a specific colour, such as yellow, green, etc.. This coloured glass can be used in architectural glass, decorative glass and other fields.

Ceramic materials: Indium oxide can be used as an additive in ceramic materials to improve the performance of ceramics, such as improving the hardness, wear resistance and high temperature resistance of ceramics.

Biomedical field: In histology, indium oxide can be used as part of certain staining formulations for the staining and analysis of biological tissues.

Other applications: Indium oxide powder can also be used as a protective coating for metal reflective mirrors to prevent oxidation and corrosion of the mirror surface.