2021/05/18 by Javier Castillo‐Seoane, Castillo-Seoane, Javier, Jorge Gil‐Rostra +21 · 1 citation
Engineering · Materials Science · #Applied Physics (physics.app-ph) #FOS: Physical sciences #Gas Sensing Nanomaterials and Sensors #Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci) #ZnO doping and properties
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2105.08751
openalex publication_date 2021/05/18 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
The eventual exploitation of one-dimensional nanomaterials yet needs the\ndevelopment of scalable, high yield, homogeneous, and environmentally friendly\nmethods able to meet the requirements for the fabrication of under design\nfunctional nanomaterials. In this article, we demonstrate a vacuum and plasma\none-reactor approach for the synthesis of the fundamental common element in\nsolar energy and optoelectronics, i.e. the transparent conducting electrode but\nin the form of nanotubes and nanotrees architectures. Although the process is\ngeneric and can be used for a variety of TCOs and wide-bandgap semiconductors,\nwe focus herein on Indium Doped Tin Oxide (ITO) as the most extended in the\nprevious applications. This protocol combines widely applied deposition\ntechniques such as thermal evaporation for the formation of organic nanowires\nserving as 1D and 3D soft templates, deposition of polycrystalline layers by\nmagnetron sputtering, and removal of the template by simply annealing under\nmild vacuum conditions. The process variables are tuned to control the\nstoichiometry, morphology, and alignment of the ITO nanotubes and nanotrees.\nFour-probe characterization reveals the improved lateral connectivity of the\nITO nanotrees and applied on individual nanotubes shows resistivities as low as\n3.5 +/- 0.9 x 10-4 \Ω.cm, a value comparable to single-crystalline\ncounterparts. The assessment of diffuse reflectance and transmittance in the\nUV-VIS range confirms the viability of the supported ITO nanotubes as a random\noptical media working as strong scattering layers. Further ability to form ITO\nnanotrees opens the path for practical applications as ultra-broadband\nabsorbers in the NIR. The demonstrated low resistivity and optical properties\nof these ITO nanostructures open the way for their use in LEDs, IR shield,\nenergy harvesting, nanosensors, and photoelectrochemical applications\n