Low-Temperature Deposition of Transparent Conducting Films Applied to Flexible Electrochromic Devices

Here, we compare two different transparent conducting oxides (TCOs), namely indium tin oxide (ITO) and indium zinc tin oxide (IZTO), fabricated as transparent conducting films using processes that require different temperatures. ITO and IZTO films were prepared at 230 °C and at room temperature, respectively, on glass and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrates using reactive magnetron sputtering. Electrochromic WO3 films deposited on ITO-based and IZTO-based ECDs using vacuum cathodic arc plasma (CAP) were investigated. IZTO-based ECDs have higher optical transmittance modulation, ΔT = 63% [from Tbleaching (90.01%) to Tcoloration (28.51%)], than ITO-based ECDs, ΔT = 59%. ECDs consisted of a working electrochromic electrode (WO3/IZTO/PET) and a counter-electrode (Pt mesh) in a 0.2 M LiClO4/perchlorate (LiClO4/PC) liquid electrolyte solution with an active area of 3 cm × 4 cm a calculated bleaching time tc of 21.01 s and a coloration time tb of 4.7 s with varying potential from −1.3 V (coloration potential, Vc) to 0.3 V (bleaching potential, Vb).

Characteristics of GZO-based multilayer transparent conducting films

Ga-doped ZnO (GZO)/metal/GZO structures were fabricated on glass substrates to be the transparent conducting layers in this study. GZO films and metal films were deposited at room-temperature by a radio-frequency sputter and a thermal evaporator, respectively. The GZO/Ag/GZO (GAG) structures had poor electrical and optical properties due to the formation of Ag islands on the GZO layer. A 1-nm Cu seed layer was deposited on the GZO layer to fabricate the GZO/Ag/Cu/GZO (GACG) structure to improve its electrical and optical properties. The GACG structure had sheet resistance of 9 [Formula: see text], average visible transmittance of 86% and figure of merit of [Formula: see text] [Formula: see text]. In addition, the sheet resistance of the GACG structure kept almost the same after annealing at [Formula: see text]C in atmosphere for more than 5 h, which showed good thermal stability.

Efficient Light Trapping from Nanorod-Like Single-Textured Al-Doped ZnO Transparent Conducting Films

Nanorod-like single-textured Al-doped ZnO (AZO) transparent conducting films were prepared by the simple hydrothermal growth of AZO nanorods on AZO seed layers. The structures, morphologies, optoelectronic properties and light trapping abilities of the AZO films were investigated. The morphological changes of single-textured AZO films depending on growth temperature were shown. Above all, the relation between light trapping abilities and surface morphologies of the single-textured AZO films was studied in detail. The nanorod-like single-textured AZO films prepared at 100 °C exhibited low resistivity, high total transmittance and remarkable enhancement of haze value, which can be acted as transparent electrodes for improving the conversion efficiency of Si-based thin film solar cells.

А New Method of Obtaining Transparent Conducting Films of Indium (III) Oxide and Indium-Tin Oxide

In the work, sedimentation-stable sols of indium (III) and tin (IV) hydroxides were obtained by the Anion Resin Exchange Precipitation, which consists of the exchange reaction between the OH ions of the anion exchange resin and the anions of metal-containing solutions. The synthesized hydrosols were used to obtain conducting films of indium (III) In2O3 oxide and indium oxide doped with Tin In2O3: Sn, with a surface resistance of 4 kOhm/sq, thicknesses of 200–500 nm and a transparency of more than 85 %. The modes of applying precursors to glass substrates by the modified spray method and centrifugation method are selected. Films were studied using XRD, SEM, optical microscopy and spectrophotometry