Fabrication of In2Te3 nanowalls garnished with ZnO nanoparticles and their field emission behavior

Two-dimensional (2D) vertical oriented indium sesquitelluride (In2Te3) nanowalls, and ZnO/In2Te3 nanoheterostructures were grown on Si substrate via simple chemical vapor deposition (CVD) technique. The monitored In2Te3 nanowalls are single crystalline, 120–150 nm in size and approximately 50 nm thin. Indium sesquitelluride (In2Te3) has a suitable band gap for optoelectronic and energy field applications but its field emission properties have not been investigated yet. For the first time, In2Te3 structures have been subjected for field emission analysis which pointed out reasonable properties of field emission. Owing to field emission improvement, ZnO nanoparticles were garnished on In2Te3 nanowalls. This causes an impressive reduction in turn on field which approaches to 2.1 Vμm−1 as compared to pure In2Te3 nanowalls 3.2 Vμm−1. In addition, excellent emission stability without significant current degradation is noted. These findings indicated that 2D nanowalls of In2Te3 and ZnO/In2Te3 nanoheterostructures have great potentials for future applications in the energy field.