Detection of spinelZnIn2O4formed as nanostructures in ZnO

A local structure formed by dilute In ions doped in ZnO was investigated by means of a nuclear spectroscopic technique and density functional theory (DFT) calculations. Comparative studies on a presumably isomorphous $\mathrm{CdI}{\mathrm{n}}_{2}{\mathrm{O}}_{4}$ unveiled the local structure: the impurity In ions form in ZnO a spinel $\mathrm{ZnI}{\mathrm{n}}_{2}{\mathrm{O}}_{4}$, which has been only a hypothetical binary oxide so far. The most stable structure of the spinel was determined by DFT calculations, and the hyperfine interaction parameters obtained for the structure show excellent agreement with the experimental values. The experimental synthesis and detection of the normal spinel $\mathrm{ZnI}{\mathrm{n}}_{2}{\mathrm{O}}_{4}$ are presented.