Facile fabrication of flower like self-assembled mesoporous hierarchical microarchitectures of In(OH)₃ and In₂O₃: In(OH)₃ micro flowers with electron beam sensitive thin petals

A template and capping-reagent free facile fabrication method for mesoporous hierarchical microarchitectures of flower-like In(OH)₃ particles under benign hydrothermal conditions is reported. Calcination of In(OH)₃ to In₂O₃ with the retention of morphology is also described. Both In(OH)₃ and In₂O₃ microstructures were analyzed with SEM, EDX, TEM and powder X-ray diffraction. The crystal sizes for In(OH)₃ and In₂O₃ were calculated using the Scherrer equation. In In(OH)₃ the thin flakes at the periphery of micro flowers were electron beam sensitive. The mechanism of self-assembly process was analyzed as well. - Highlights: • Hydrothermal fabrication In(OH)₃ self-assembled porous hierarchical architectures. • Induced dehydration in beam sensitive In(OH)₃ micro flowers. • Calcination of In(OH)₃ to In₂O₃ with the retention of flower like morphology. • Phase pure synthesis of In₂O₃ with the average crystal size of ∼37 nm.