Thermal growth and structural and optical characterization of indium tin oxide nanopyramids, nanoislands, and tubes

Abstract

In-doped SnO 2 microtubes as well as Sn-doped In 2 O 3 ͑ITO͒ nano-and microislands have been grown by thermal treatment of compacted SnO 2 -In 2 O 3 powders under argon flow at 1350°C in a catalyst-free process. The SnO 2 tubes contain about 1 at. % of In, even when the In content in the starting mixture was as high as 52 at. %. However, the ITO nanoislands and nanopyramids, grown preferentially on the faces and edges of the tubes, present an In content up to six times higher than the tubes. Spatially resolved cathodoluminescence shows a higher emission from the Sn-rich structures, so that the In-rich ITO nanoislands show dark contrast in the CL images. CL spectra show that the main emission bands in both, Sn-rich and In-rich, structures, are related to oxygen deficiency. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy shows differences between the tubes and the nanoislands in the O ͑1s͒ spectral region. In particular, a component at 531.9 eV of the O ͑1s͒ signal appears enhanced in the In-rich islands.

Indium tin oxide nanowires growth by dc sputtering

“…Growth of ITO nanostructures using different methods has been reported [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16], such as chemical vapor deposition [4,8,10,14,15], chemical synthesis [5], oblique-incidence electron-beam (ebeam) deposition [6,13], sol electrophoresis [7], sputtering [9,11], and thermal treatment [12]. Some of these methods, such as chemical vapor deposition [4,8,10,14,15] and thermal treatment [12], require a high growth temperature and thus would not be suitable for growth on glass substrates, which are of interest for low cost optoelectronic device applications. On the other hand, low temperature methods like chemical synthesis [5] result in free-standing nanostructures instead of nanorod/nanowire arrays/networks on the substrate.…”

“…Although ITO used in practical applications is mainly in the thin film form, there is considerable interest in ITO nanostructures [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16], since they can result in very low resistivity [4], as well as enable improved performance of solar cells due to improved charge collection [6]. Growth of ITO nanostructures using different methods has been reported [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16], such as chemical vapor deposition [4,8,10,14,15], chemical synthesis [5], oblique-incidence electron-beam (ebeam) deposition [6,13], sol electrophoresis [7], sputtering [9,11], and thermal treatment [12].…”

Tuning the Luminescence of Tin Oxide Low Dimensional Structures in the Near Infrared Range by In‐Situ Doping During a Vapor–Solid Growth Process

“…Undoped samples and samples doped with only Cr or Li are also used in this work as reference materials, and will be named as SnO 2 , SnO 2 :Cr, and SnO 2 :Li, respectively. The fabrication and characterization of the reference materials have been reported elsewhere …”

“…Its fabrication by template‐based methods, gives rise to polycrystalline and mesoporous, instead of highly crystalline, materials. On the contrary, the TCO tubes grown by an analogous vapor–solid method used in this work, are single crystalline and do not need the use of a catalyst. Doping with different elements efficiently influences the optical properties of TCO tubular structures, which can be used for different applications, for example, as a luminescence material for the visible range or as optical resonator combined with wave‐guiding behavior …”

Electrochemical corrosion behaviors of ITO films at anodic and cathodic polarization in sodium hydroxide solution

“…However, up to now, majority studies have been focused on the kinetics and mechanisms of the growth [4,5], modifying procedure of the preparation process [6] and the influence of basic properties by different preparation methods [7][8][9][10], without paying much attention to electrochemical stability of ITO. In a general way, oxides are expected to be stable against oxidative processes since the metal cation is at its highest oxidation state.…”