Phase composition,conductivity,and sensor properties of cerium-doped indium oxide

The hydrothermal synthesis of In_(2)O_(3)and CeO_(2)–In_(2)O_(3)is investigated as well as the properties of sensor layers based on these compounds.During the synthesis of In_(2)O_(3),intermediate products In(OH)_(3)and InOOH are formed,which are the precursors of stable cubic(c-In_(2)O_(3))and metastable rhombohedral(rh-In_(2)O_(3))phases,respectively.A transition from c-In_(2)O_(3)to rh-In_(2)O_(3)is observed with the addition of CeO_(2).The introduction of cerium into rh-In_(2)O_(3)results in a decrease in the sensor response to hydrogen,while it increases in composites based on c-In_(2)O_(3).The data on the sensor activity of the composites correlate with XPS results in which CeO_(2)causes a decrease in the concentrations of chemisorbed oxygen and oxygen vacancies in rh-In_(2)O_(3).The reverse situation is observed in composites based on c-In_(2)O_(3).Compared to In_(2)O_(3)and CeO_(2)–In_(2)O_(3)obtained by other methods,the synthesized composites demonstrate maximum response to H_(2)at low temperatures by 70–100℃,and have short response time(0.2–0.5 s),short recovery time(6–7 s),and long-term stability.A model is proposed for the dependence of sensitivity on the direction of electron transfer between In_(2)O_(3)and CeO_(2).

The feasibility study of the indium oxide supported silver catalyst for selective hydrogenation of CO_(2)to methanol

Silver catalyst has been extensively investigated for photocatalytic and electrochemical CO_(2) reduction.However,its high activity for selective hydrogenation of CO_(2) to methanol has not been confirmed.Here,the feasibility of the indium oxide supported silver catalyst was investigated for CO_(2) hydrogenation to methanol by the density functional theoretical(DFT)study and then by the experimental investigation.The DFT study shows there exists an intense Ag-In_(2)O_(3) interaction,which causes silver to be positively charged.The positively charged Ag species changes the electronic structure of the metal,facilitates the formation of the Ag-In_(2)O_(3) interfacial site for activation and dissociation of carbon dioxide.The promoted CO_(2) dissociation leads to the enhanced methanol synthesis via the CO hydrogenation route as CO_(2)^(*)→CO^(*)→HCO^(*)→H_(2)CO^(*)→H_(3)CO^(*)→H_(3)COH^(*).The Ag/In_(2)O_(3)catalyst was then prepared using the deposition-precipitation method.The experimental study confirms the theoretical prediction.The methanol selectivity of CO_(2) hydrogenation on Ag/In_(2)O_(3) reaches 100.0%at reaction temperature of 200℃.It remains more than 70.0%between 200 and 275℃.At 300℃and 5 MPa,the methanol selectivity still keeps 58.2%with a CO_(2) conversion of 13.6%and a space-time yield(STY)of methanol of 0.453 g_(methanol)g_(cat)^(-1)h^(-1),which is the highest methanol STY ever reported for silver catalyst.The catalyst characterization confirms the intense Ag-In_(2)O_(3)interaction as well,which causes high Ag dispersion,increases and stabilizes the oxygen vacancies and creates the active Ag-In_(2)O_(3)interfacial site for the enhanced CO_(2)hydrogenation to methanol.

Structural, electronic and vibrational properties of indium oxide clusters

Geometric, electronic and vibrational properties of the most stable and energetically favourable configurations of indium oxide clusters InmOn （1 ≤m, n ≤ 4） are investigated using density functional theory. The lowest energy geometries prefer the planar arrangement of the constituent atoms with a trend to maximize the number of ionic In-O bonds. Due to the charge transfer from In to O atoms, the electrostatic repulsion occurs between the atoms with the same kind of charge. The minimization of electrostatic repulsion and the maximization of In O bond number compete between each other and determine the location of the isometric total energy. The most stable linear In-O-In-O structure of In2O2 cluster is attributed to the reduced electrostatic repulsive energy at the expense of In-O bond number, while the lowest energy rhombus-like structure of In2O3 cluster reflects the maximized number of In O bonds. Furthermore, the vibrational frequencies of the lowest energy clusters are calculated and compared with the available experimental results. The energy gap and the charge density distribution for clusters with varying oxygen/indium ratio are also discussed.

Correlating the crystal structure and facet of indium oxides with their activities for CO_(2)electroreduction

Constructing structure-function relationships is critical for the rational design and development of efficient catalysts for CO_(2) electroreduction reaction(CO_(2)RR).In_(2)O_(3) is well-known for its specific ability to produce formic acid.However,how the crystal phase and surface affect the CO_(2)RR activity is still unclear,making it difficult to further improve the intrinsic activity and screen for the most active structure.In this work,cubic and hexagonal In_(2)O_(3) with different stable surfaces((111)and(110)for cubic,(120)and(104)for hexagonal)are investigated for CO_(2)RR.Theoretical results demonstrate that the adsorption of reactants on cubic In_(2)O_(3) is stronger than that on hexagonal In_(2)O_(3),with the cubic(111)surface being the most active for CO_(2)RR.In experiments,synthesized cubic In_(2)O_(3) nanosheets with predominantly exposed(111)surfaces exhibited a high HCOO^(-)Faradaic efficiency(87.5%)and HCOO^(–)current density(–16.7 mA cm^(-2))at–0.9 V vs RHE.In addition,an aqueous Zn-CO_(2) battery based on a cubic In2O3 cathode was assembled.Our work correlates the phases and surfaces with the CO_(2)RR activity,and provides a fundamental understanding of the structure-function relationship of In_(2)O_(3),thereby contributing to further improvements in its CO_(2)RR activity.Moreover,the results provide a principle for the directional preparation of materials with optimal phases and surfaces for efficient electrocatalysis.

Doped ceramics of indium oxides for negative permittivity materials in MHz-kHz frequency regions

Negative permittivity has been widely studied in various metamaterials and percolating composites, of which the anomalous dielectric behavior was attributed to critical structural properties of building blocks.Herein, mono-phase ceramics of indium tin oxides(ITO) were sintered for epsilon-negative materials in MHz-k Hz frequency regions. Electrical conductivity and complex permittivity were analyzed with DrudeLorentz oscillator model. Carriers’ characters were measured based on Hall effect and the magnitude and frequency dispersion of negative permittivity were mainly determined by carrier concentration.Temperature-dependent dielectric properties further proved the epsilon-negative behaviors were closely associated with free carriers’ collective responses. It’s found that negative permittivity of ITO ceramics was mainly caused by plasma oscillations of free carriers, while the dielectric loss was mainly attributed to conduction loss. Negative permittivity realized here was related to materials intrinsic nature and this work preliminarily determined the mechanism of negative permittivity in doped ceramics from the perspective of carriers.

Preparation of indium tin oxide targets with a high density and single phase structure by normal pressure sintering process

The present work mainly describes the technology for preparing indium-tin oxide （ITO） targets by cold isostatic pressing （CIP） and normal pressure sintering process. ITO powders were produced by chemical co-precipitation and shaped into an ITO green compact with a relative density of 60% by CIP under 300 MPa. Then, an ITO target with a relative density larger than 99.6% was obtained by sintering this green compact at 1550℃ for 8 h. The effects of forming pressure, sintering temperature and sintering time on the density of the target were inves- tigated. Also, a discussion was made on the sintering atmosphere.

Preparation of High Quality Indium Tin Oxide Film on a Microbial Cellulose Membrane Using Radio Frequency Magnetron Sputtering

Microbial cellulose （MC） membranes produced by Acetobacter xylinum NUST4.1,were used as flexible substrates for the fabrication of transparent indium tin oxide （ITO） electrodes.Transparent and conductive ITO thin films were deposited on MC membrane at room temperature using radio frequency （RF） magnetron sputtering.The optimum ITO deposition conditions were achieved by examining crystalline structure,surface morphology and op-toelectrical characteristics with X-ray diffraction （XRD）,scanning electron microscopy （SEM）,atomic force mi-croscopy （AFM）,and UV spectroscopy.The sheet resistance of the samples was measured with a four-point probe and the resistivity of the film was calculated.The results reveal that the preferred orientation of the deposited ITO crystals is strongly dependent upon with oxygen content （O2/Ar,volume ratio） in the sputtering chamber.And the ITO crystalline structure directly determines the conductivity of ITO-deposited films.High conductive [sheet resis-tance ～120 Ω·square-1 （Ω·sq-1）] and transparent （above 76%） ITO thin films （240 nm thick） were obtained with a moderate sputtering power （about 60 W） and with an oxygen flow rate of 0.25 ml·min-1 （sccm） during the deposi-tion.These results show that the ITO-MC electrodes can find their potential application in optoelectrical devices.

Temperature-dependent bias-stress-induced electrical instability of amorphous indium-gallium-zinc-oxide thin-film transistors

The time and temperature dependence of threshold voltage shift under positive-bias stress（PBS） and the following recovery process are investigated in amorphous indium-gallium-zinc-oxide（a-IGZO） thin-film transistors. It is found that the time dependence of threshold voltage shift can be well described by a stretched exponential equation in which the time constant τ is found to be temperature dependent. Based on Arrhenius plots, an average effective energy barrier Eτ stress= 0.72 eV for the PBS process and an average effective energy barrier Eτ recovery= 0.58 eV for the recovery process are extracted respectively. A charge trapping/detrapping model is used to explain the threshold voltage shift in both the PBS and the recovery process. The influence of gate bias stress on transistor performance is one of the most critical issues for practical device development.

Preparation of Indium Tin Oxide Films on Polycarbonate substrates by Radio-frequency Magnetron Sputtering

Indium tin oxide（ITO）thin films（100±10nm）were deposited on PC（polycarbonate）and glass substrates by rf（radio-frequency）mannetron spuutering.The oxygen content of the ITO films was changed by variation of the sputtering gas composition.All the other deposition parameters were kept constant.The sheet resistance.optical transmittance and microstructure of ITO films were investigated using a four-point probe.spectrophotometer,X-ray diffractometer（XRD）and atomic force microscope（AFM）.Sheet resistances for the ITO films with optical transmittance more than 75% on PC substrates varied from 40Ω/cm^2 to more than 104 Ω/cm^2 with increasing oxygen partial pressure from O to about 2%.The same tendeney of sheet resistances increasing with increasing oxygen partial pressure was observed on glass substrates.The X-ray diffraction data indicated polycrystalline filns with grain orientations predominantly along（440）and （422）directions.The intensities of （440）and （422）peaks increased slightly with the increase of oxygen partial pressure both on PC and glass substrates.The AFM images show that the ITO films on PC substrates were dense and uniform.The average grain size of the films was about 40nm.

Electrical and optical properties of indium tin oxide/epoxy composite film

The electrical and optical properties of the indium tin oxide （ITO）/epoxy composite exhibit dramatic variations as functions of the ITO composition and ITO particle size. Sharp increases in the conductivity in the vicinity of a critical volume fraction have been found within the framework of percolation theory. A conductive and insulating transition model is extracted by the ITO particle network in the SEM image, and verified by the resistivity dependence on the temperature. The dependence of the optical transmittance on the particle size was studied. Further decreasing the ITO particle size could further improve the percolation threshold and light transparency of the composite film.

Isothermal thermo-analytical study and decomposition kinetics of non-activated and mechanically activated indium tin oxide(ITO) scrap powders treated by alkaline solution

Isothermal decomposition process of chemically transforming indium tin oxide（ITO） powders into indium（III） hydroxide powders was investigated. Two types of powders were analyzed, i.e., non-activated and mechanically activated. It has been found that in the case of activated sample, shorter induction periods appear, which permits growth of smaller crystals, while in the case of non-activated sample, long induction periods appear, characterized by the growth of larger crystals. DAEM approach has shown that decomposition processes of non-activated and mechanically activated samples can be described by contracting volume model with a linear combination of two different density distribution functions of apparent activation energies（Ea）, and with first-order model, with a single symmetrical density distribution function of Ea, respectively. It was established that specific characteristics of particles not only affect the mechanism of decomposition processes, but also have the significant impact on thermodynamic properties.

Synthesis and sintering of indium tin oxide nanoparticles by citrate-nitrate combustion method

Spherical indium tin oxide （ITO） nanoparticles were synthesized by combustion method using citric acid as fuel and nitrates as oxidizer. The obtained ITO nanoparticles were characterized by TG-DSC, FT-IR, XRD, BET, TEM, and SEM. The ITO nanoparticles grew steadily with the increase of heat treatment temperature, and the 700~C calcined particles had a crystallite size of 25.3 nm and a specific surface area of 26.1 m2.g i The avoidance of chlorine ions in the synthesis process decreases particle agglomeration and promotes powder densification. The 900~C sintered pellet had a density of 67.6% of theoretical density （TD） and increased steadily to 97.3% for the 1400℃ sintered ceramics, respectively.

Effect of Sn^(4+) content on properties of indium tin oxide nanopowders

Indium tin oxide(ITO)nanopowders were prepared by a modified chemical co-precipitation process.The influence of different SnO2 contents on the decomposition behavior of ITO precursors,and on the phase and morphology of ITO precursors and ITO nanopowders were studied by X-ray diffractometry,transmission electron microscopy and differential thermal and thermogravimetry analysis methods.The TG-DSC curves show that the decomposition process of precursor precipitation is completed when the temperature is close to 600 ℃and the end temperature of decompositionis somewhat lower when the doping amount of SnO2 is increased.The XRD patterns indicate that the solubility limit of Sn4+ relates directly to the calcining temperature. When being calcined at 700℃,a single phase ITO powder with 15%SnO2(mass fraction)can be obtained.But,when the calcining temperature is higher than 800℃,the phase of SnO2 will appear in ITO nanopowders which contain more than 10%SnO2.The particle size of the ITO nanopowders is 15-25 nm.The ITO nanoparticles without Sn have a spherical shape,but their morphology moves towards an irregular shape when being doped with Sn4+.

Microstructure Study on Nano-phase Powder of Indium Tin Oxide

hemical co-precipitation method was used to prepare indium tin hydroxide. Indium tin hydroxide has the structure of cubic crystal. The cubic crystal structure transformed to amorphous after heat treatment at 250℃ for 1 h. When the heat treatment temperature was higher than 280℃, the amorphous transformed to cubic crystal structure. After heat treatment at 600℃ for 1 h, the particle size of indium tin oxide is 8～20 nm. The weight ratio of In∶Sn is near 9∶1. Its granule has spherical shape. The dispersity is good.

Enhanced performance in organic photovoltaic devices with a KMnO_4 solution treated indium tin oxide anode modification

The properties of poly（3-hexylthiophene）：（6,6）-phenyl C61 butyric acid methyl ester （P3HT：PCBM） organic pho- tovoltaic devices （OPVs） with an indium tin oxide （ITO） anode treated by a KMnO4 solution are investigated. The optimized KMnO4 solution has a concentration of 50 rag/L, and ITO is treated for 15 min. The modification of ITO anode results in an enhancement of the power conversion efficiency （PCE） of the device, which is responsible for the increase of the photocurrent. The performance enhancement is attributed to the work function modification of the ITO substrate through the strong oxygenation of KMnO4, and then the charge collection efficiency is improved.

Work Function Enhancement of Indium Tin Oxide via Oxygen Plasma Immersion Ion Implantation

Indium tin oxide （ITO） transparent conducting film was treated with oxygen plasma immersion ion implantation （PIII）. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy （XPS） was employed to characterize the effect. The results suggested that the oxygen content in the surface was increased and maintained for more than 50 h compared with traditional plasma-treated samples. Meanwhile, the work function of ITO estimated by comparing the peak shift in the XPS diagram suggested a corresponding increase by more than 1 eV.

Improvement of the light output and contact resistance of InGaN-based light-emitting diodes based on tantalum-doped indium tin oxide as p-type electrodes

This paper reports that highly transparent and low resistance tantalum-doped indium tin oxide （Ta-doped ITO） films contacted to p-type GaN have been prepared by the electron-beam evaporation technique. The Ta-doped ITO contacts become Ohmic with a specific contact resistance of $／sim 5.65／times 10^{ - 5}$$／Omega ／cdot$cm$^{2}$ and show the transmittance of $／sim $98% at a wavelength of 440nm when annealed at 500／du. Blue light emitting diodes （LEDs） fabricated with Ta-doped ITO p-type Ohmic contact layers give a forward-bias voltage of 3.21V at an injection current of 20mA. It further shows that the output power of LEDs with Ta-doped ITO contacts is enhanced 62% at 20mA in comparison with that of LEDs with conventional Ni/Au contacts

Fabrication and Properties of DC Magnetron Sputtered Indium Tin Oxide on Flexible Plastic Substrate

Indium tin oxide （ITO） thin films deposited on flexible polyethylene terephthalate （PET） substrates at low temperature by DC magnetron sputtering from an In-Sn （90-10 wt pct） alloy target were studied. The correla- tion between deposition conditions and ITO property was systematically investigated and characterized. These as-deposited ITO films were used as the anode contact for flexible organic light-emitting diodes （FOLEDs）. The fabricated FOLEDs with a structure of PET/ITO/NPB （50 nm）/Alq （20 nm）/Mg：Ag （100 nm） showed a maximum luminance of 2125 cd/m^2 at 13 V.

Improved device reliability in organic light emitting devices by controlling the etching of indium zinc oxide anode

A controllable etching process for indium zinc oxide （IZO） films was developed by using a weak etchant of oxalic acid with a slow etching ratio. With controllable etching time and temperature, a patterned IZO electrode with smoothed surface morphology and slope edge was achieved. For the practical application in organic light emitting devices （OLEDs）, a sup- pression of the leak current in the current-voltage characteristics of OLEDs was observed. It resulted in a 1.6 times longer half lifetime in the IZO-based OLEDs compared to that using an indium tin oxide （ITO） anode etched by a conventional strong etchant of aqua regia.

Double-layer indium doped zinc oxide for silicon thin-film solar cell prepared by ultrasonic spray pyrolysis

Indium doped zinc oxide （ZnO：In） thin films were prepared by ultrasonic spray pyrolysis on corning eagle 2000 glass substrate. 1 and 2 at.% indium doped single-layer ZnO：In thin films with different amounts of acetic acid added in the initial solution were fabricated. The 1 at.% indium doped single-layers have triangle grains. The 2 at.% indium doped single-layer with 0.18 acetic acid adding has the resistivity of 6.82 × 10^-3 Ω. cm and particle grains. The doublelayers structure is designed to fabricate the ZnO：In thin film with low resistivity （2.58 × 10^-3 Ω. cm） and good surface morphology. It is found that the surface morphology of the double-layer ZnO：In film strongly depends on the substratelayer, and the second-layer plays a large part in the resistivity of the doublewlayer ZnO：In thin film. Both total and direct transmittances of the double-layer ZnO：In film are above 80% in the visible light region. Single junction a-Si：H solar cell based on the double-layer ZnO：In as front electrode is also investigated.