Periodic Reporting for period 1 - TCOtronics (Transparent conductive oxide nanocrYstalline films for eleCtronics and optoelectronics via low-cost solution prOcessing)
Reporting period: 2022-09-01 to 2024-02-29
In the TCOtronics project, we were concerned with developing a revolutionary low-cost process concept for the fabrication of transparent conductive oxide films optimized for optical and electronic applications. As part of TCOtronics, we developed models to predict the optical and electronic properties of the films in order to increase the efficiency of the fabrication process, which will be tailored for different purposes: photonic structures for filters and mirrors, transparent electrodes for visible solar cells, and transparent electronic circuits. An interesting result achieved within TCOtronics is the fabrication of indium tin oxide based transprent conductive oxide films that show a tunable electrical resistance, over three order of magnitude, upon post-fabrication processes, such as the annealin temperature and the annealing time.
We have fabricated, with simple and low temperature wetlab techniques, films based on indium tin oxide nanocrystals with a electrical resistance that can be tuned, over three orders of magnitude, with post processing procedure. We have achieved a tunable electrical resistance either by changing the temperature of annealing of the indium tin oxide nanocrystalline films, or by changing the annealing time of the films. Moreover, the light absorption of such films can be tuned with annealing temperature and annealing time.
The fabrication of indium tin oxide nanocrystalline films, that show a tunable electrical resistance with different annealing temperatures and different annealing times, is a novel result that has been published in an international scientific journal. The scientific publication, dated 2023, has been already cited by other researchers working in the field. The discovery has a potential impact in the growing market of the electronics devices with displays and in the growing market of solar cells. The low temperature and low cost process can be promising for the realization of cheap and portable electronic devices with displays.