Metastable indium oxyhydroxide (InOOH) and corundum-type indium oxide (In2O3): controllable synthesis, growth of single crystals and in-situ characterization of transformation paths and transient intermediates

类似于Al2O3和Ga2O3-其他众所周知的13（IIIA）族金属氧化物-In2O3直到最近才被认为具有充分理解的结构化学，没有新发现的空间。在过去的几年里，这种观点已经完全改变了。计算和合成新的氧化铟多晶型物以及生长立方In_2O_3单晶为无机化学和材料科学开辟了新的前景。尽管在过去的几年中取得了进展，In-O和In2O3-H2O系统没有得到充分的理解，特别是在可调的合成，晶体学关系和亚稳态氢氧化铟（InOOH）和In2O3多晶型物的性质。该项目的重点是：（一）可控合成路线，以亚稳o-InOOH和刚玉型（rh-）In2O3，（二）生长单晶的亚稳o-InOOH和rh-In2O3，（三）晶体转化路径的理解，从铟氢氧化物和羟基氧化物亚稳In2O3多晶型，（iv）In-O和In 2 O3-H2 O体系中相变的原位表征和（v）瞬时中间体的鉴定。

Similar to Al2O3 and Ga2O3 - other well-known oxides of the group 13 (IIIA) metals - In2O3 has been considered until recently to possess the well understood structural chemistry with no space for new discoveries. In the past few years this point of view has changed completely. Computation and synthesis of new indium oxide polymorphs and growth of single crystals of cubic In2O3 have opened new perspectives for inorganic chemistry and materials science. Despite the progress achieved in the last years, the In-O and In2O3-H2O systems are not fully understood, especially in respect to the tunable synthesis, crystallographic relationship and properties of metastable indium oxyhydroxide (InOOH) and In2O3 polymorphs. The project focuses on (i) controllable synthesis routes towards metastable o-InOOH and corundum-type (rh-) In2O3, (ii) growth of single crystals of metastable o-InOOH and rh-In2O3, (iii) understanding of crystallographic transformation path from indium hydroxide and oxyhydroxide to metastable In2O3 polymorphs, (iv) in-situ characterization of the phase transformations in the In-O and In2O3-H2O systems and (v) identification of transient intermediates.