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Nanomaterials
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Transparent Conductive Nanomaterials: Science and Applications
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Transparent Conductive Nanomaterials: Science and Applications

A special issue of Nanomaterials (ISSN 2079-4991). This special issue belongs to the section "Nanoelectronics, Nanosensors and Devices".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 June 2022) | Viewed by 7095

Special Issue Editors

Dr. David Muñoz-Rojas

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
CNRS, Grenoble INP, LMGP, Univ. Grenoble Alpes, F-38000 Grenoble, France
Interests: chemistry of materials; spatial atomic layers deposition (SALD); hybrid materials; photovoltaics; transparent conductive materials; soft chemistry; energy storage
Prof. Dr. Daniel Bellet

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
CNRS, Grenoble INP, LMGP, University Grenoble Alpes, F-38000 Grenoble, France
Interests: chemistry of materials; spatial atomic layers deposition (SALD); hybrid materials; photovoltaics; transparent conductive materials; soft chemistry; energy storage

Special Issue Information

Transparent conducting materials (TCMs), which are able to simultaneously conduct electricity and transmit visible light, have been the focus of many fundamental and applied research studies in recent decades. Many are the optoelectronic applications concerned, such as photovoltaics, transparent electronics, light-emitting diodes, transparent heaters, smart windows, flat panel displays, touch screens, and more. Most of the TCMs used in industry to date rely on the use of transparent conductive oxides (TCOs), mainly n-type metal oxide layers, such as indium tin oxide (ITO). However, other n-type and p-type TCO have also been studied extenstively. Moreover, the industrial need for transparent and mechanically flexible electrodes has prompted the search for emerging TCMs lately. These concern, for instance, metallic nanowire networks, metallic grids or meshes, conductive polymers, carbon-based materials such as graphene and carbon nanotube networks, as well as thin metallic films sandwiched between thin oxide layers. All of these TCOs and emerging TCMs are made from nanomaterials. There is, thus, a dynamic and rapid research development for fabricating optimized TCMs, to better understand their physical properties. In addition to high optical transparency and high electrical conductivity, other properties are also required depending on the targeted applications (such as flexibility, stretchability, haziness or work function). The control and tuning of these complex sets of properties of TCMs is broadening the scope of TCM applications and improving their integration.

This Special Issue will highlight the latest advances in the study of various types of nanostructures for TCM applications, and experimental, theoretical and integration approaches are welcome. We invite researchers to submit their original research articles, letters, and reviews on fundamental and applied studies of TCM.

Dr. David Muñoz-Rojas
Prof. Dr. Daniel Bellet
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Nanomaterials is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • transparent conductive oxide (TCO)
  • novel p-type TCMs
  • conducting polymers
  • graphene, carbon nanotubes
  • metallic nanowire networks
  • thin metallic films
  • innovative deposition techniques for TCMs
  • carrier scattering and transport mechanisms
  • modeling of TCMs
  • specific properties of TCMs (stability, haziness, adapted work function, etc.)
  • integration of TCMs in functional devices

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

14 pages, 22425 KiB  
Article
Solution Combustion Synthesis of Hafnium-Doped Indium Oxide Thin Films for Transparent Conductors
by Rita Firmino, Emanuel Carlos, Joana Vaz Pinto, Jonas Deuermeier, Rodrigo Martins, Elvira Fortunato, Pedro Barquinha and Rita Branquinho
Nanomaterials 2022, 12(13), 2167; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/nano12132167 - 23 Jun 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2035
Abstract
Indium oxide (In2O3)-based transparent conducting oxides (TCOs) have been widely used and studied for a variety of applications, such as optoelectronic devices. However, some of the more promising dopants (zirconium, hafnium, and tantalum) for this oxide have not received [...] Read more.
Indium oxide (In2O3)-based transparent conducting oxides (TCOs) have been widely used and studied for a variety of applications, such as optoelectronic devices. However, some of the more promising dopants (zirconium, hafnium, and tantalum) for this oxide have not received much attention, as studies have mainly focused on tin and zinc, and even fewer have been explored by solution processes. This work focuses on developing solution-combustion-processed hafnium (Hf)-doped In2O3 thin films and evaluating different annealing parameters on TCO’s properties using a low environmental impact solvent. Optimized TCOs were achieved for 0.5 M% Hf-doped In2O3 when produced at 400 °C, showing high transparency in the visible range of the spectrum, a bulk resistivity of 5.73 × 10−2 Ω.cm, a mobility of 6.65 cm2/V.s, and a carrier concentration of 1.72 × 1019 cm−3. Then, these results were improved by using rapid thermal annealing (RTA) for 10 min at 600 °C, reaching a bulk resistivity of 3.95 × 10 −3 Ω.cm, a mobility of 21 cm2/V.s, and a carrier concentration of 7.98 × 1019 cm−3, in air. The present work brings solution-based TCOs a step closer to low-cost optoelectronic applications. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Transparent Conductive Nanomaterials: Science and Applications)
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10 pages, 5403 KiB  
Article
Structural Engineering Effects on Hump Characteristics of ZnO/InSnO Heterojunction Thin-Film Transistors
by Qi Li, Junchen Dong, Dedong Han, Dengqin Xu, Jingyi Wang and Yi Wang
Nanomaterials 2022, 12(7), 1167; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/nano12071167 - 31 Mar 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1545
Abstract
Transparent conductive oxides (TCO) have been extensively investigated as channel materials for thin-film transistors (TFTs). In this study, highly transparent and conductive InSnO (ITO) and ZnO films were deposited, and their material properties were studied in detail. Meanwhile, we fabricated ZnO/ITO heterojunction TFTs, [...] Read more.
Transparent conductive oxides (TCO) have been extensively investigated as channel materials for thin-film transistors (TFTs). In this study, highly transparent and conductive InSnO (ITO) and ZnO films were deposited, and their material properties were studied in detail. Meanwhile, we fabricated ZnO/ITO heterojunction TFTs, and explored the effects of channel structures on the hump characteristics of ZnO/ITO TFTs. We found that Vhump–VON was negatively correlated with the thickness of the bottom ZnO layer (10, 20, 30, and 40 nm), while it was positively correlated with the thickness of the top ITO layer (3, 5, 7, and 9 nm), where Vhump is the gate voltage corresponding to the occurrence of the hump and VON is the turn-on voltage. The results demonstrated that carrier transport forms dual current paths through both the ZnO and ITO layers, synthetically determining the hump characteristics of the ZnO/ITO TFTs. Notably, the hump was effectively eliminated by reducing the ITO thickness to no more than 5 nm. Furthermore, the hump characteristics of the ZnO/ITO TFTs under positive gate-bias stress (PBS) were examined. This work broadens the practical application of TCO and provides a promising method for solving the hump phenomenon of oxide TFTs. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Transparent Conductive Nanomaterials: Science and Applications)
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9 pages, 2999 KiB  
Article
Preparation of a ZnO Nanostructure as the Anode Material Using RF Magnetron Sputtering System
by Seokwon Lee, Yeon-Ho Joung, Yong-Kyu Yoon and Wonseok Choi
Nanomaterials 2022, 12(2), 215; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/nano12020215 - 10 Jan 2022
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 2053
Abstract
In this study, a four-inch zinc oxide (ZnO) nanostructure was synthesized using radio frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering to maximize the electrochemical performance of the anode material of a lithium-ion battery. All materials were grown on cleaned p-type silicon (100) wafers with a deposited [...] Read more.
In this study, a four-inch zinc oxide (ZnO) nanostructure was synthesized using radio frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering to maximize the electrochemical performance of the anode material of a lithium-ion battery. All materials were grown on cleaned p-type silicon (100) wafers with a deposited copper layer inserted at the stage. The chamber of the RF magnetron sputtering system was injected with argon and oxygen gas for the growth of the ZnO films. A hydrogen (H2) reduction process was performed in a plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) chamber to synthesize the ZnO nanostructure (ZnO NS) through modification of the surface structure of a ZnO film. Field emission scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy were performed to confirm the surface and structural properties of the synthesized ZnO NS, and cyclic voltammetry was used to examine the electrochemical characteristics of the ZnO NS. Based on the Hall measurement, the ZnO NS subjected to H2 reduction had a higher electron mobility and lower resistivity than the ZnO film. The ZnO NS that was subjected to H2 reduction for 5 min and 10 min had average roughness of 3.117 nm and 3.418 nm, respectively. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Transparent Conductive Nanomaterials: Science and Applications)
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9 pages, 2115 KiB  
Article
Controlled Lattice Thermal Conductivity of Transparent Conductive Oxide Thin Film via Localized Vibration of Doping Atoms
by Young Joong Choi, Ho Yun Lee, Seohan Kim and Pung Keun Song
Nanomaterials 2021, 11(9), 2363; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/nano11092363 - 11 Sep 2021
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2016
Abstract
Amorphization using impurity doping is a promising approach to improve the thermoelectric properties of tin-doped indium oxide (ITO) thin films. However, an abnormal phenomenon has been observed where an excessive concentration of doped atoms increases the lattice thermal conductivity (κl). [...] Read more.
Amorphization using impurity doping is a promising approach to improve the thermoelectric properties of tin-doped indium oxide (ITO) thin films. However, an abnormal phenomenon has been observed where an excessive concentration of doped atoms increases the lattice thermal conductivity (κl). To elucidate this paradox, we propose two hypotheses: (1) metal hydroxide formation due to the low bond enthalpy energy of O and metal atoms and (2) localized vibration due to excessive impurity doping. To verify these hypotheses, we doped ZnO and CeO2, which have low and high bond enthalpies with oxygen, respectively, into the ITO thin film. Regardless of the bond enthalpy energy, the κl values of the two thin films increased due to excessive doping. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy was conducted to determine the metal hydroxide formation. There was no significant difference in wave absorbance originating from the OH stretching vibration. Therefore, the increase in κl due to the excessive doping was due to the formation of localized regions in the thin film. These results could be valuable for various applications using other transparent conductive oxides and guide the control of the properties of thin films. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Transparent Conductive Nanomaterials: Science and Applications)
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