In-Situ Growth and Characterization of Indium Tin Oxide Nanocrystal Rods

• Main Authors: Yan Shen, Youxin Lou, Zhihao Wang, Xiangang Xu
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2017-11-01
• Series: Coatings
• Subjects: indium tin oxide; in-situ growth; Vegard’s law; solid solution
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2079-6412/7/12/212

Indium tin oxide (ITO) nanocrystal rods were synthesized in-situ by a vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) method and electron beam evaporation technique. When the electron-beam gun bombarded indium oxide (In2O3) and tin oxide (SnO2) mixed sources, indium and tin droplets appeared and acted as catalysts. The nanocrystal rods were in-situ grown on the basis of the metal catalyst point. The nanorods have a single crystal structure. Its structure was confirmed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The surface morphology was analyzed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). During the evaporation, a chemical process was happened and an In2O3 and SnO2 solid solution was formed. The percentage of doped tin oxide was calculated by Vegard’s law to be 3.18%, which was in agreement with the mixture ratio of the experimental data. The single crystal rod had good semiconductor switch property and its threshold voltage of single rod was approximately 2.5 V which can be used as a micro switch device. The transmission rate of crystalline nanorods ITO film was over 90% in visible band and it was up to 95% in the blue green band as a result of the oxygen vacancy recombination luminescence.