Important Implications of the Electrochemical Reduction of ITO

Liang Liu, Shai Yellinek, Ido Valdinger, Ariela Donval, Daniel Mandler*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

51 Scopus citations

Abstract

Abstract The electrochemical reduction of indium tin oxide (ITO) on glass is systematically studied. It is revealed that the light absorbance and electric resistance of ITO increases upon reduction. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images show that the integrate ITO films dissolve and form particles upon applying negative potentials. The particles consist of metallic In and Sn, as characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The reduction of ITO strongly depends on the electrolyte conditions, mainly pH and anions. The onset potential is found to shift negative as the pH of the electrolyte increases. NO3- ions are found to significantly inhibit the reduction of ITO, shifting the reduction potential negative by ca. 500 mV as compared with SO42-, Cl- and Br-. It can also serve as inhibitor by adding very low concentration to the Cl--dominant electrolyte. Moreover, it is found that the electrochemically reduced ITO show excellent non-linear optical performance, with transmittance tuneable by reduction potential and time. This suggests a promising useful application of the electrochemical reduction of ITO.

Original languageAmerican English
Article number25411
Pages (from-to)1374-1381
Number of pages8
JournalElectrochimica Acta
Volume176
DOIs
StatePublished - 10 Sep 2015

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
Ms. Tali Fisher Masliah from KiloLambda Ltd. is acknowledged for the non-linear optics measurements. This work was partially supported by NTU-HUJ-BGU Nanomaterials for Energy and Water Management Programme under the Campus for Research Excellence and Technological Enterprise (CREATE), that is supported by the National Research Foundation, Prime Minister’s Office, Singapore. The support by the Israeli Ministry of Science and Technology is also acknowledged (3-10854). The Harvey M. Krueger Family Center for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology of the Hebrew University is also acknowledged.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 Elsevier Ltd.

Keywords

  • electrochemical reduction
  • indium tin oxide (ITO)
  • nitrate
  • non-linear optics
  • pH

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