Optimization Preparation of Indium Tin Oxide Nanoparticles via Microemulsion Method Using Orthogonal Experiment

Indium tin oxide (ITO), an experimentally friendly transparent conducting oxide (TCO), has attracted great attention in the photoelectric field due to its intrinsically low resistivity and high transparency. In this work, the experimental conditions of preparing ITO nanoparticles using the microemulsion method were optimized by an orthogonal experiment. The optimal experimental conditions were obtained: mass ratio of the surfactant (AEO-3, MOA-5), a co-surfactant (n-propyl alcohol) of 5:3, molar ratio of indium and ammonia of 1:20, calcination temperature of 700 °C and calcination time of 4 h. Subsequently, the influence from process variables on the resistivity was researched systematically. The results demonstrated that the calcination temperature had a great effect on the resistivity; the resistivity reduced from 11.28 to 2.72 Ω·cm with the increase in the calcination temperature from 500 to 700 °C. Ultimately, ITO nanoparticles were prepared and systematically characterized under the optimal experimental conditions. The particles with a size of 60 nm were attributed to the cubic ITO crystal phase and showed low resistivity of 0.3675 Ω·cm. Significantly, ITO nanoparticles with low resistivity were obtained using the microemulsion method, which has potential application in the field of ITO nanoparticle preparation.