Synthesis of gallium oxide via interaction of gallium with iodide pentoxide in plasma.

The promising fields of gallium oxide application are the production of hybrid cars, electrical equipment of high-power, ultraviolet radiation sensors and uninterruptible power supplies. However, the main factor hindering its massive commercial use is the lack of synthesis technologies, that should be cheap, reproducible, and scalable. In this work we develop a novel plasma-chemical method of Ga₂O₃ synthesis. The high-purity elemental gallium was used as the precursor, which was delivered by argon flow to the reaction zone, where the interaction with iodide pentoxide took place. RF (40.68 MHz) non-equilibrium plasma discharge at low pressure (0.1 Torr) was employed for the initiation of interactions between precursors. Optical Emission Spectroscopy in tandem with quantum-chemical calculations allowed us to find out the reactive species formed in the plasma discharge. The properties of the solid phase obtained were studied as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]