Müller V., Rathousky J., Fattakhova-Rohlfing D.
J. Heyrovsky Institute of Physical Chemistry, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, CZ
Keywords: antimony-doped tin-oxide, electric conductivity, mesoporous films, self-assembly, transparent conducting oxides
Transparent conducting films of antimony-doped tin oxide (ATO) with a uniform 3D-mesostructure were prepared by self-assembly of crystalline ATO nanoparticles with various antimony content directed by commercially available Pluronic copolymers. The mesostructure of the films calcined at 300 oC – 500 oC exhibits periodicity of 14 nm, surface area of 200 – 300 m2/cm3 and a well-developed accessible porosity of 45 – 55 %. The high crystallinity of the nanoparticles serving as building blocks enables to obtain the fully crystalline inorganic frameworks with sufficient electric conductivity already at temperatures as low as 300oC. Another attractive feature of this approach is the high thermal stability of the obtained mesostructure exhibiting practically no shrinkage due to the temperature treatment. The film conductivity is the highest when the particles containing 8 – 10 % of Sb are used for the film assembly. Ferrocene molecules covalently immobilized in the conducting mesoporous matrix show the greatly enhanced electrochemical response proportional to the electrode surface area. The high electric conductivity and the uniform accessible mesoporosity combined with a simple and generally applicable preparation procedure make the developed ATO films the perfect nanostructured transparent electrodes for various optoelectronic applications.
Journal: TechConnect Briefs
Volume: 1, Nanotechnology 2010: Advanced Materials, CNTs, Particles, Films and Composites
Published: June 21, 2010
Pages: 627 - 630
Industry sector: Advanced Materials & Manufacturing
Topics: Advanced Materials for Engineering Applications, Coatings, Surfaces & Membranes
ISBN: 978-1-4398-3401-5